Just like Florida has its hurricane season, Okinawa has its typhoon season. For the past three years, many typhoons have skirted around the island, but I had yet to experience a direct hit...until last Tuesday.
There were actually three typhoons in the area. Typhoons are known by their numbers and the one that hit Okinawa was Typhoon #7. The internet is calling it Typhoon Kompasu, so I guess typhoons have other names outside of Japan. Typhoon #8 is called Typhoon Lionrock. That's sure is a lot cooler than, say, Hurricane Earl.
Anyway, news reports said the storm would hit at around 160 kph, or 100 mph, and judging from all the damage in the area, I would say they were correct. I've experienced many storms in Florida, but there was a big difference this time...my housing.
Prior to the storm, I was reassured my building would be okay because, 'Okinawa buildings are made from concrete.' Great, but I soon learned that my doors were not exactly sealed for typhoon conditions. I had water leaking in and debris flying through my fan that let's out smoke when I cook, but the worst problem for me was the noise. With all my doors and windows rattling for about 4 hours, I couldn't focus on anything and just laid on my futon.
Oh, and I lost power for about 30 hours.
Here are some pictures I took the following Wednesday morning:
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| Some guy's destroyed office. |
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| I helped some old men flip this back over. |
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| How NOT to prepare your yard for a storm. |
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| There was lots of this. |
And of course, Wednesday was the first day of school. After a brief 1st period assembly, the kids spent the rest of their morning doing yard work. I made myself useful by taking pictures, of course.
