However, this one started out as a Category 5 (highest possible...winds around 300 km/h) a couple of days before it reached Korea and, while it decreased to a Cat 1 (winds of around 150 km/h) by the time it go to Korea, Typhoon Sanba managed to hit us square on as a real storm.
According to forecasters, parts of Korea were looking at 400 mm (that's about 13 inches for those of you still stuck in the Middle Ages) of rain due to the storm, about 100 mm of it falling within 2 hours. For comparison, New York City (picked a city at random) gets a total of around 1,200 mm of rain in A YEAR.
While all students and some teachers got the day off work, others had to go in to "protect the school," an idea that's utterly insane. I'm not sure how a few dozen people are supposed to protect a massive building from 150+ km/h winds, but forcing employees to commute through a typhoon, then hang around an empty school only to commute back in a city where streets, etc were flooding is one of the dumbest ideas I've heard in a long time...especially since even the official government line was to advise people to stay indoors and stay put.
Anyhoo, I was one of the lucky ones who got to spend Monday at home...like the nerd I am, I was well prepared...I taped/cardboarded my windows. The cardboard helps prevent small debris from cracking/chipping the window and the tape helps hold the window together and prevents large chunks of glass from exploding into your apartment in case it gets smashed.
Typhoon Sanba hit us at around mid-morning on September 17, and peaked at roughly 11:30 a.m., when I took this video out of my apartment building's window:
Thankfully, I have not heard any reports of major damage and during my post-typhoon walk and motorbike ride through Masan, I didn't see anything more serious than stuff that was thrown around and branches down. For a while, though, parts of Masan did flood..this is in the old downtown (Dekkori) area...I'm not sure who took the photo, it's been circulating in local foreigner circles:
The canal near my house usually looks like this:
However, yesterday I realized that the canals around here were not designed only for monsoons (as I had believed for a year and a half), but rather for typhoons as well...yesterday it came dangerously close to flooding! (Thanks to Simon for the photos):
and
It takes an unbelievably immense amount of water to fill that canal!!!
This morning, however, the canal is back down to its normal size, and herons are once again fishing happily in its shallow depths!
One awesome thing about the typhoon was that the water it brought with it made for some truly wicked temporary waterfalls. So, as soon as the weather cleared, I headed for the Bongam reservoir and shot some pictures...
And:
I'm not a fan of bugs, but I like shooting anything interesting...so I had to take a couple pics of this massive Praying Mantis devouring some other bug...nasty...but cool.
In other news...I passed the 18 month mark in Korea last week and I have to say, it filled me with happiness. It's been a great year and a half in Korea, I've accomplished a lot (debt free, work experience), travelled a ton, met a huge number of amazing people, etc. I'm hoping to be here for another year and a half, then likely off to Europe for a year or back to Canada for a bit.
Anyways...I should go...my school managed to escape major damage, but upon entering my classroom this morning (it's on the top floor), I noticed a sizable lake in the middle of the floor...this should be fun!
Cheers,
T
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