A typhoon hit Hong Kong today and my many Facebook friends who live there have been keeping me informed about the situation. We experienced lots of typhoons during the years we lived in Hong Kong and today I got my journal out to see what I had written about our very first typhoon in September of 2003.
We’ve survived our first typhoon! There’s a warning system in Hong Kong to prepare citizens for typhoons. Each stage of the typhoon is given a number designation. T-1 warns bad winds are on the way. T-3 is a little more serious. As the threat of a major storm increases the scale goes up. Everyone heads for home when a T-8 is announced. You see typhoon warning signs on public buildings, in apartment lobbies, in the subway, in shopping malls and even in the corner of TV and movie screens. The T-8 signal was given around noon last Tuesday.
Just before lunch, schoolteachers had to begin calling their students’ mothers and fathers using their mobile phones in their classrooms. While making these contacts we were of course still trying to keep control of twenty four children all very excited about the approaching storm. Parents left their jobs to retrieve their kids. Teachers remained at school till all students had been picked up. Then we were advised to make our way home as quickly as possible.
My colleagues said I should stock up on food in case the storm made it difficult to shop. I stopped at a grocery store on the way home from work, but it was jammed with people and many of the shelves were looking bare. It appeared I wasn’t the only one trying to replenish my provisions before the storm hit. By this time it was already raining hard. The wind wrecked havoc with my umbrella rendering it useless. I realized getting absolutely drenched was a given.
There were millions of people trying to make their way home. We were packed into the train cars like soggy sardines. On the last leg of my train journey back to our apartment a rabbi who happened to be scrunched up beside me asked for help. The poor fellow was soaked and carrying a large suitcase. His yarmulke askew, he looked exhausted. He told me he had been traveling in China with a guide, but somehow as they went through customs to leave the country they were separated. The rabbi had the address of the hotel he and his guide were headed to in Hong Kong, but he didn’t know how to get there and was worried about what he would do should the typhoon hit before he did. Luckily I recognized the address written on the piece of paper he showed me and was able to give him directions. I had to leave the train before he did, so I said good-bye and wished him well.
Although the typhoon was eventually upgraded to a T-10, damage in Hong Kong was not severe. Our neighborhood was littered with broken tree branches the next morning. Some people had broken windows in their apartments. My school principal was surprised when the power went off in his home and water began gushing out of the electrical outlets. Transportation services stopped for a few hours in Hong Kong during the height of the storm, and most stores closed early. Millions of people spent the evening at home with their families on Tuesday night. Perhaps that was the silver lining to the storm’s clouds.
The typhoon that hit Hong Kong last week was named Dujuan, which in Mandarin means beautiful azalea flower. I wouldn’t say the typhoon was beautiful but it definitely added excitement to our lives. We moved to Asia for some new experiences. We are definitely having them!
What Next? 