Best Posts in Thread: Check In When You Can

Different experiences and I feel sorry for those still waiting to get power back (and perhaps water) - my electricity was off for four days but I feel so lucky. Seeing people who lost everything, reading of the two patients drowned in the ambulance at Bais, realising that many are going to be suffering for months and I have nothing to complain about. I was not in the best place at the right time but I was not in the worst place either - I count my Blessings.

 

Merry Christmas. Power came back at 4:20pm yesterday, after Noreco fixed the down lines. Overall, Noreco performed great in this disaster.

 

Merry Christmas, just got power back on Christmas day 3 hours ago. Beer already in the fridge.

 

Gomez street and that area behind Paddy's have no eletricity, massive damage on electric cabels, most down on the ground, they have water. I live next to Gomez street on the beach, we have electric and water, no wifi, technician been here, maybe next year wifi will be back, I just get a prepaid Globe wifi router, it works well for now, live in area where signal from both Globe and Smart is on/off, but happy with the prepaid router, wifi is important, connection to family and friends and what's going on in the world outside the barangay

 

You are right to criticize the Philippine method of typhoon (hurricane) warning. In the Philippines the projected storm damage is communicated differently than in the USA. The Philippine system is more complex and as a result hardly any warning gets communicated.

In the USA hurricanes (typhoons) are categorized (1-5) based on the power of the storm. There is little detail of how bad the storm will be in different locations. Only the full strength of the storm is reported. This has the result of scaring the s^!t out of everyone. Even those who are not near the path of the hurricane. Looking back this is a good thing.

In the Philippines there is an attempt to categorize how bad the typhoon will be in different locations. The signals (1-5) are assigned to specific areas based on geography and how far away from the path of the typhoon. The intensity of Philippine signals (1-5) and US categories (1-5) are very similar. The only difference is that signals are based on location and categories are based on the strength of the storm.

Officially at the last minute, Cebu was signal 4, and Dumaguete signal 3. Bayawan was signal 3 (should have been 4) because it was on the windward side of the mountains.

The strength of Odette was accurately forecasted 6 days prior to landfall as a category 4. At that time it was expected to make a direct hit on Dumaguete. Technically when it made landfall on Mindanao it broke the threshold of a category 5. The problem is that it is easier to predict the intensity of the storm but not the path. Because signals are based on the location of the path, the forecasters had to wait until it got closer and the path was more accurately predictable. This essentially puts off the signal notice until the last moment.

The signal system is too complex. Better to just scare the s^!t out of everyone with the maximum intensity of the hurricane.