It was the 1st day of November when Supertyphoon rolly came and hit the Bicol Region. He left with lots of casualties and damages and bring traumatic moments to the places where unfortunately experienced the supertyphoon's wrath.
And I was there...
This article was based on a true story of a college student who experienced such strong typhoon away from her family.
The Wrath of Rolly
It was friday, October 29 when we heard the news about the typhoon Rolly and its track. At first it wasnt declared a supertyphoon and its track is different from the track it traced so we became calm and chill.
It was 5 in the afternoon when my roommate decided to fix her clothes and put it in the closet in case of emergency so that there will be less mess inside the room and so what I did is to fit some of my clothes I havent used in a while. I know its kinda inappropriate to act like that when theres a storm coming but we were so sure that we will be safe inside the dormitory. We even had some great moments and talks about life and such until we fell asleep.
At the last day of the month, I was so excited and sad at the same time because it will be the first time that I will celebrate my birthday away from my fam. Lots of people are chatting me, sending me messages greeting me a happy birthday, even tho my birthday was really on november 1st, and so i ask, why so advance,I mean, whats with the advance greetings? And all of them reason out that there might be a power interuption due to the typhoon, and so I started to have doubts about the storm and search it online, then I found out that its track was moved southwards and its now heading in Bicol Region, I began to feel a slight panic which I dont wanna show because if I end up showing it, my dormmates might panic as well so I remain calm and announced the latest news that I read on my social media account. After spreading the news, everyone get their candles and put it on the table so that when a power interuption occur, we will have a light.
November 1st, it was 6 in the morning when our dormmate knocked on our room to invite us to have some breakfast, the power is out already and the wind is strong outside. At first I was hesitant to get up as it was still early, but then I realized that there was a typhoon and so I became alert, watched and observed my surroundings carefully to act as fast as I could in case of emergency. I remain online to contact my siblings and parents as well as my friends who were in different places. Past 8 am when we felt the strong winds and heavy rains brought by the supertyphoon. We can hear the roof, trees and other object flying,rumbling like it was escaping from the wrath of the storm. Before my phone shuts, I check my friends and fam and made sure that they were safe in their places and so I charged my phone. I was about to go outside specifically at the lobby to check if how were things going on in the front yard. And I regret going out of our room because you can hear from the lobby the strong winds of the typhoon, its sounds echoed on the open space of our frontyard making the cars create a loud noise.
As I run back to our room, I sense something weird with my dormmates as they keep on laughing even during our situation. As I keep on asking them,they lit up the candle(the one we used during the power outrage) and sang a happy birthday song for me. Hahahhaha I know its kinda weird to be happy that moment, but thanks to my crazy dormmates, that song and surprise(was it?) made me calm a bit.
10 in the morning when I saw the water outside, I was still calm as I thought that it was normal especially with such a heavy rain. But it wasnt, the water is rising up putting us in an alarming state, its rate is fast making us act more quicker than usual. We decided to pack our things, bring important stuffs we can use for survival together with our pet animals and climb up to the second floor to observe if the water level will rise even more. I already texted one of our professor, and some of our classmates to inform them about our situation inside the dormitory. Luckily, the water did not rise even more and it stay still until we felt the last wrath of the storm.
But the damages it left isnt that fantastic at all. Below are some of the actual footage of what the Supertyphoon Rolly did in Guinobatan, Albay.
It was still vivid on our minds what happened last November 1 knowing that it was my birthday. I will never forget it and it will forever be a lesson and story I will tell for the next generation.