Visit from Vincent

Last night we experienced a first for us in Hong Kong, a direct hit from Typhoon Vincent.  Hong Kong issued around 1 am a T10 warnig signal (the strongest alert) but we didn’t need to check the weather to know we were getting “hit”. This was the equivalent of what Americans would call a category 2 hurricane. The trees outside our  house were shaking violently and we saw branches fly off.  Not to be dramatic, but the gusts reminded me of labor. There would be a lull for about 3 minutes then a huge rush that howled, whistled and shook everything, then it would get calmer again.  Of course nobody in the house could sleep as we all braced ourselves for the next gust.  We were even creating a plan as to what we would do if the windows broke from the wind or a flying object.

      Our power was out the whole night and around 3:30 Jason realized that there was water running down our internal staircase. He tried to dry it with towels but there was way to much. Soon the water was seeping into our house. He woke me up and I began mopping in the candlelight. Eventually we identified that the water was coming from our rooftop that wasn't draining. Not surprising since it had dumped 14 inches in one day. When Josiah got out of bed we were still dealing with situation. He said, "I like that sound of water" as if we had installed a fountain in the hallway. 

 Jason sweeping water off the roof at 5 am in the storm. What a stud!

 We took a walk today and there were trees down everywhere. The construction site right next to our house was a mess as well with the bamboo scaffolding all twisted and even a crane down.

This uprooted tree is in front of our new village

   
 . . . and this is the sidewalk!

There was definitely a silver lining to Vincent, as I got two "typhoon days" for summer school.  Not bad for a 10 day program. And with just moving in, there is no shortage of things to do around home.