Friday, October 9, 2009

Typhoon Melor, what typhoon?

Yesterday we were all whipped up into a flurry of panic (ok maybe just me, it was my first typhoon!) when it was announced all the schools in Toyama Prefecture would be shut for Thursday because typhoon Melor was heading our way packing gusts of up to 144 kilometres (89 miles) an hour. Forecasters were describing it as one of the worst storms to threaten the country in the past decade.

I then got an email from Interac, my employer, informing us what to do during a typhoon. Here is an excerpt which really got me going:

Do consider purchasing a flashlight and some non-perishable food (power outages) and expect to be apartment-bound and unable to go out during, and immediately before and after, the storm.

Brilliant, how to panic the entire 3000 people workforce!

Our headmaster then came and told us school was going to be closed. It took everything in me not to punch my fist in the air with joy. A paid day off, woop woop. So yesterday I woke up with childlike Christmas anticipation thinking the typhoon might just be beating down my doors and window (only one) but alas, just a strong wind and a heck of a lot of rain. Apparently the typhoon had decreased from a category 5 (highest) to a category 4 storm and diverted it's course to the east so Tokyo and the east coast were the worst impacted.

I've seen worse in the summer in England to be honest, sooo disappointing!

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