Hurricane Millennium

Me and Dex left the office at around 12:00 yesterday and something terrible thing happened on my way home. I never thought that I would experience things that I only see in the movie.


I personally experienced the brunt of the storm yesterday, which, besides causing floods, felled trees that caused instant “blockades” in busy cities like Makati and Pasay, peeled off entire marble blocks from some buildings while tossing scaffoldings in others, twisted metal structures in airport warehouses, and hurled billboards down the main highway on Edsa. Besides the debris from countless felled trees, cut power cables dangerously dangled like spaghetti in the streets.


Today, all classes in all levels and work in all government offices remain suspended today in the aftermath of typhoon "Milenyo" (international codename: Xangsane). The typhoon slammed into the metropolis and parts of Luzon and the Visayas yesterday, killing at least 15 people and leaving behind widespread destruction. Milenyo was the strongest typhoon to directly hit Metro Manila in 11 years, after super typhoon Rosing, packing 260 kph, battered the metropolis and nearby provinces in November 1995, leaving 936 people dead.



The storm toppled trees and triggered landslides, blocking some provincial roads. Debris and tree branches littered the streets around Metro Manila. While trees and electric posts were uprooted in many areas in Bicol and most parts of Luzon where the typhoon passed. School authorities suspended classes, flights were canceled, ferry boats were grounded, the country’s financial markets were halted, and officials were forced to suspend the operation of two commuter trains (MRT and LRT) in Metro Manila as the typhoon wiped out all normal activity. More than 40 million people were without electricity after the typhoon, packing winds of 130 kilometers per hour, destroyed power lines in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon. This is a devastation of the city, the trees were uprooted even the Meralco and PLDT posts were damaged.


-RV