At around 5:30 am, the winds seemed to have slowed down - but only for a few minutes. Then the pounding rain was now coming from the other direction or from the back of our house. The change in direction tells me that the center or eye of the storm has just passed us and we were in the second pass of the storm's "rim". This time, the wind was much stronger.
Aftermath of Storm Glenda
It was only around 8:30 am that the winds have finally died down. If you noticed, the storm wind was coming from one direction for about 3 hours and from another direction for another 3 hours. The lull in the center was just a few minutes and this tells me that the storm was actually moving fast, but it was just too big and far-reaching that it took a total of 6 hours for it to come and leave.
Cleaning Up Operations after Typhoon Glenda
For the next few hours, we were busy cleaning up. The cover of our water cistern was forced open and so we had to close it to keep leaves from entering.
Many of our seedlings and plants have fallen. I had to make garden support stakes for the fallen Thunbergia grandiflora vines that were just starting to climb. The kids swept all the leaves (mostly from a neighbor's Jackfruit Tree) in front at the street. They gathered leaves that filled up about one and a half sacks.
Fallen Trees and Electric Posts
In our morning walk the next day, we saw some real damage especially on fallen trees and blown out roofs. Here's one that we usually pass by in one of the two routes in our morning walks.
The mango tree fell over and to the house's fence across it. It brought down with it wires and cables on the electric post. You can see the post leaning already. The wires and cables have been lowered that anyone could actually touch them - and they can become live anytime power comes back.
But that's not all. Apparently the mango tree's roots hit the water line below it and that's why there's water gushing and flooding the street.
Honestly, I thought this huge tree was an accident waiting to happen. Every time we passed by this street, daytime sunlight dimmed a bit because the mango tree's foliage was so thick. The side branches have actually gone across the street and have crowded out the power, cable and telephone lines lines attached to the electric post. Other than the fruits they were harvesting, I always wondered why the owners wouldn't want to cut it. It's as if homeowners would just let nature's take its own course as far as their trees are concerned. Unfortunately, nature's course could mean nature manifesting its fury.
See part 2 for the continuation of this article.
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