This weekend we got to experience our first Tropical Storm/ Typhoon. On Saturday morning, we put away all the bikes, the loose trampoline parts, and lawn mower to keep them from blowing around. We had no idea what to expect. We learned that the difference between a tropical storm and a typhoon is the strength of the sustained winds—once the sustained winds hit 74 miles an hour, the storm is classified as a typhoon in the Western Pacific Ocean. (In the Atlantic, the same cutoff is called a hurricane.) Sunday morning, it was windy and raining, but Matt still drove into work to hold services. Sunday night, I could hardly sleep as the wind was howling outside and the rain beat against the windows. Our little bunker held tight though and thankfully, the kids slept through the night. The storm strengthened on Monday morning, and Matt got to stay home.
Here is what it looks like on the satellite. (That little blue arrow is pointing to our house on the East China Sea)
Here is what it looks like outside my back door,
and here is what it looks like in the living room. As always, the storm potential with everyone cooped up inside is just as volatile as the storm outside. We watched the Olympic boxing, built with Legos, and played Wii.
I really wish we had our trampoline up, so we could see how it would hold up in the storm. I’m a little nervous about it, because our house is on a hill and there is a Colonel’s house at the bottom of the hill. I have nightmares about waking up after a storm and having to walk down the hill to pull my trampoline off his car. “Excuse me sir, yes, that is my trampoline crushing your little Suzuki. Would you mind?”
The winds never reached “typhoon” status, but we had four inches of rain in about twenty-four hours, and aside from a little sleeplessness because of the wind, we came through just fine. Thank you Tropical Storm Haikui for the warm welcome to Okinawa!