The typhoon degenerated to a tropical depression. We had almost constant thunder during the night with very bright lightning and light to moderate rain. No strong wind. Early this morning we had heavy rain and light rain off and on since then. Rivers are really flooded. Our village is well above the rivers so never floods.
There are still heavy clouds to come according to the weather maps, but no typhoon so we don’t expect significant wind. It has started raining pretty hard again just as we are writing this, but no wind at all.
We did get a text message from Dani, a Manubu’ Bible teacher in the lowlands, that their house was flooded. It is a small, simple house without all the appliances and furniture western houses or even houses in the towns and cities here in the Philippines have so not so serious when it gets flooded. It is pretty much a matter of just drying out clothing and blankets when the weather clears, but not much fun when it happens!
We experienced our first typhoon about 29 years ago. We were visiting in a Manubu’ tribal house on a hill above our village. Suddenly, the leaves which served as shingles on the roof of the house starting blowing off one by one. The Manubu’ knew what was coming. They gathered up their things, and we helped them carry them to lower land. The wind quickly increased in velocity and as we hurried on to our house trees were blowing over along the way. All night the rain and wind came horizontally against our house. The house was really shaking and the rain poured in through every crack and knot hole in the walls. We had just finished building the house and had no idea how it would stand up again the wind. All this on a pitch black night. Many of the Manubu’ spent the night on our large, closed in, porch.
So, currently all is well here in our village and area. Thanks for praying and thanks too to all you sent emails saying that they were praying for us.