Since our presence in Asia is by invitation of the U.S. Military, we are governed by their policies and procedures. So as the week proceeded with the possibility of a typhoon on Thursday I kept my eye on their "readiness" postings. TCCOR-4 (Tropical Cyclone Conditions of Readiness level 4) officially means that destructive winds are possible within 72 hours, but it really becomes meaningless since that is the normal state from June-October and is permanently affixed to the corner of any Armed Forces network broadcast in Asia. So on Tuesday when the status didn't change to TCCOR-3 (destructive winds--sustained winds of 50 knots or gusts of 60 knots) it seemed to lessen the importance of this storm. However, I told my students in class on Tuesday that if any level of TCCOR-1 occurs any time on Thursday we would cancel class and gave them the plan for making up the lecture during lab on Friday. Wednesday I met with my Monday/Wednesday class and got home at 10:30pm feeling a definite storm presence in the air. Thursday morning I began to look at the TCCOR postings and the JTWC website hourly. Around noon they called a TCCOR-3 level which really didn't make sense because if we were going to get destructive winds they would occur within 24 hours, but..... At 2:00 pm I received an email from a student asking if we would have class and I was composing a message to tell her that until TCCOR-1 was reached, we would meet, but before sending the message I thought I should double-check the latest posting. To my surprise it was TCOR-1 (Destructive winds in 12 hours) so I officially canceled class. However, UMUC policy is to not cancel classes until TCCOR-1C is reached (Caution with 35-49 knot winds currently happening) but considering that a number of my students travel from various bases, I took that into consideration and felt that some lead-time should be given so they didn't drive an hour in busy traffic just to find out there was no class. And as expected, it wasn't until less than an hour before class would have started that TCCOR-1C was reached. Of course, even when the Air Force said their education center would be closing the Marines kept theirs open and didn't officially close until well after classes had begun--I'll let you interpret that difference.
So with my concerns about what to do with class I began preparing for an extended "lockdown" in my apartment. Policy is that once we reach TCCOR-1E (emergency) we are not to leave our domicile until TCCOR-1R (recover) is over and the "all clear" is posted. Sounds like a good time to curl up with a good book or start a marathon of movies, but since our traveling status limits what we carry with us, those plans depended upon "electronic" resources. By early Thursday evening the apartment, located on the 8th floor of a nine floor building overlooking a tidal flat of the Pacific Ocean, was starting to tremble, howl, whistle, and occasionally shake from the winds that were easily over 70 mph. I noticed that our VOIP phone (Internet-based) was flashing an error and sure enough, the Internet was down--so much for streaming movies to keep my mind off of the winds! So I decided to go to bed and try to sleep through it. But the noise was so loud and my mind kept thinking "what if......" that I couldn't get to sleep. Most of my worries centered around the fact that the entire windward side or the apartment consists of three sliding glass doors and I wasn't sure how they would handle hurricane force winds. TCCOR-1E advisories say to stay indoors away from windows, but the only room in the apartment without a window is the toilet room which is barely large enough to stand up in. (Toilets generally are in a separate room from the sink and bathtub.). As the night progressed I found that I would doze off but would soon be awakened with louder and stronger gusts. Some of them turned out to be near 100 knots!
The grey light of Friday morning couldn't come soon enough. Some had predicted that several hours after the central part of the storm passed we would be in the "all clear", especially those who bemoaned that by 6:00 am everything would be cleared up and they would have to go to work on Friday. This was, however, very wrong. 6:00 am came and went with very little change in the weather. As a matter of fact, the "back side" of this typhoon seemed to be as strong if not stronger than the "front". My view out of the windows showed very little with visibility down to a couple hundred feet. I did notice that the low-tide level of water was six-eight feet higher than normal. By noon, it was evident that we were in for a long period with constant wind. At that time, they changed the readiness state to TCCOR-1R to allow the recovery teams out to assess damage from the storm and begin cleaning any dangerous situations. Of course, this only applied to the military bases because some of the locals could always be seen out and driving around in the storm. It wasn't until 5:00pm that the bases were opened when TCCOR-Storm watch was declared later to be followed with all clear. By 3:00pm I had already canceled the lab for Friday evening that was supposed to start at 5:00pm, just as well because we wouldn't have been able to leave for the base where the science lab is located until 5:00pm. I didn't receive any complaints from my students about not having the lab!
By the time I was ready to go to bed Friday evening, I had found a couple of ear plugs in my travel bag so the constant howling of the wind (and accompanying 3-4 musical note whistling somewhere in the walls of the apartment) didn't keep me awake. As a matter of fact, I awoke Saturday morning surprised that I had been able to sleep so soundly, and also amazed that the winds were still blowing 30-40 mpg. Sometime in the morning I opened the front door of the apartment and looked out toward the elevator area and saw that the doors were closed with a sign in kanji taped to the doors. Not knowing it it was just a polite reminder to close the doors to the elevator area or a warning not to use the elevators, I chose not to venture out of the apartment and find myself climbing 8 flights of stairs upon my return. I did manage to do several loads of wash and hang the clothes out to dry. They dried within half an hour from the hard winds. As the day proceeded, it became apparent that I had successfully survived the second typhoon experience in Okinawa. All of my concerns about the winds damaging the apartment were unfounded. If anything, Okinawa is a testament that if you prepare and build accordingly, one can live fairly safely in a location prone to many typhoons, hence the name typhoon alley. As I write this, I see the JTWC is keeping at eye on Typhoon 11, Nangka, which is lingering east of here about 300 miles trying to decide if it wants to go straight north and give mainland Japan a test of the fun or turn westward and give us a second typhoon in as many weeks. Until then, I better replace my storm treats in the emergency closet!
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| Typhoon Chan-Hom in the cener with Typhoon Nangka to the right. |
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