Humbling Experience – Bagyong Ambo

It’s been 2 nights since Typhoon Ambo passed thru Sorsogon.

On the day it was going to hit our city, I was nonchalantly as if it was one of those typhoon. My mom was all over our place, asking to cut the branches of malunggay near the roof, ensuring that my wife’s stuff in the garage was properly covered by the luna. She was preparing for the worst. And we had short arguments about her being overreacting – but deep inside I knew she has the experience on this kind of event.

Dark clouds cover the sky hours before Ambo passed by Sorsogon City.

Before that, I was tracking the weather update so that I could estimate when the power would go out – this way, I know when to inform my colleagues back in Manila. But the last update i’ve seen was when the typhoon was still way south of Samar, and it had only max. of 55kph wind. I never checked it again until the night it hit Sorsogon.

My wife was telling me that it was not going to go straight to Albay, instead will pass thru Bulusan; I thought most likely will also hit Sorsogon City. I had an inkling it could be bad, but my mindset was just like any other typhoon (in Manila) – our place doesn’t get flooded since Ondoy.

So when I retired on Thursday night and the power was out, I thought I would fall asleep easily. I didn’t – I slept around 2am or so. I couldn’t – I wasn’t used to the howling wind, the torrential rain hitting the side of the room where we are staying. Luckily there was no damage, but I heard (I haven’t checked yet even this writing) that Bulan went under, and Samar was badly damaged.

I grew up having typhoons as part of my memories. When my father was home, he would tell me funny stories about Juan and Pedro; and those stories are exclusive only during the night when there was typhoon swirling around Sorsogon. There was a time our neighbor stayed with us during the night because of the heavy wind. So it was really a surprise for me when I couldn’t sleep.

In the end, I admitted that I was away too long. That my mindset of experiencing typhoon in Manila was very different from the provincial way. One of those things that I have to get used to.