Surviving Typhoon Pablo Outside the Philippines

Yes, it is sound strange why I have this title about surviving a storm that recently hit the Philippines which in fact I am outside of the country. How on earth should I be affected by this storm when I am thousand miles away from home?

I am an OFW here in Abu Dhabi, UAE, so being away from the family is one of the sacrifices I made to be able to provide them with a better future. It is very normal to us that every minute we think about home and our family. So when news broke out that in 2 days time a super typhoon Pablo (internationally name Bopha) will strike our country and putting our province on the path of the storm our worries starts to grow. My province Bukidnon is not known to be a typhoon path area so I couldn't help but worry if the people, specially my family, is ready for this kind of situation. It is not just a simple passing but eventually the eye of the storm will be on my province. And this, as far as I remember, would be the first time that our place will be directly hit by a storm.

Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) 4 days befor landfall (Courtesy of PAGASA)

With a worried tone I called up my family to tell them to be ready and cautious always when the typhoon arrives. Reminding them about the creek just a few meters from our backyard as this has a history of flooding when heavy rains pours. Checking if food, flashlights and other essentials is already set aside to be able to prepare for the worst. 

When typhoon Pablo hit our province, My wife and I couldn't do anything but to pray for the safety of my family and the people of Bukidnon. We can't sleep normally as our mind lingers at home thinking of what happen to my family. I even tried to call up my sister but to no avail and this makes our worries escalates. Prayer is our only weapon surrendering all worries to God for our family and asking His mantle of protection for them.

typhoon Pablo (Bopha) landfall (Courtesy of PAGASA)

12 hours past and still can't able to reach my family back home to know if they are okay. I even scoured all the facebook posts if anyone from Malaybalay has any information about my hometown. Concentrating at work was unattainable as my mind only thinks about home. And then I saw a picture posted by my sister of the outside view of our house, trees swaying, heavy rains and an ire gloomy look of the weather, you can even feel the strong gustiness of the wind out of that picture. I was so relieved as all of my family were okay and doing fine. Aside from being afraid of the strong wind, they were both safe and dry.

During the whipping of the storm - photo taken by my sister from the inside of our house

Slowly the destruction of typhoon Pablo was all over the internet and on facebook. My hometown has some damage of structure and properties but no loss of lives. Rivers grow big but thankfully not big enough to overflow. No electricity and water for all parts of the Province and mobile cell sites also received a massive blow by Pablo thus all communication was dead.  Many people was traumatized as it is the first time that signal number 3 was raised in our Province. As of this writing Malaybalay has zero casualty on that super typhoon Pablo.

Sawaga river water surge (Photo Credit to Earl of bukidnonphotojournal.blogspot.com)

Capitol Ground (Photo Credit to Earl of bukidnonphotojournal.blogspot.com)

Fortich stresst near LBP (Photo Credit to Earl of bukidnonphotojournal.blogspot.com)

Crossing landing area  (Photo Credit to Earl of bukidnonphotojournal.blogspot.com)

Malaybalay survived the signal number 3 typhoon, my family survive the ordeal and me and my wife survive the dilemma of worrying them here in UAE. God indeed is a great God and protector. I am so thankful to God that I survive this ordeal and offered prayer to those who were greatly affected by this typhoon Pablo. I know a lot of OFWs also from my place who had this ordeal and I am pretty sure they also relieved by now.

(*Despite the the zero casualty of Malaybalay, nearby provinces suffers a major loss not only to properties but also hundred of  human lives. No enough preparation was able to withstand the wrath of the typhoon as even the so called safe areas like an evacuation center was also wipe out by flood of water, mud and debris.)