Friday, July 23, 2010

The Day After

Across the street from our apartments







Got out of the bus stop in time.
Safety first!

Click the pix for larger picture.
Typhoons are basically the same type of tropical storm as a hurricane, but the name sounds a lot cooler*. Ours was short and nasty. As natural disasters go, it was small potatoes in a country where Nature can run amok, taking out entire cities and provinces. It did merit a story in the China Daily, though.
After a night of heavy rain and thunder, the morning arrived gently. It was overcast, calm and pleasant. There was just a big mess, like the gods had a big frat house party, and left it for the cleaning lady. There were signs down, broken windows, and shredded vinyl adhesive signs. The worst casualties were the trees. One of the things I love about this city are the tree lined streets. They keep everything cooler, and make walking a pleasure, in spite of spastic motorcyclists. They were uprooted and busted up pretty badly. Fortunately, they do recover quickly in this subtropical climate. They will most likely be looking better within a year.
There were lots of people out cleaning up the debris today, and by the afternoon the branches and other debris were piled to the edges of the streets, side streets and sidewalks.

*Well, maybe not. Rubin "Typhoon" Carter?? It would have made that Dylan song a lot clumsier. He would have had to insert an awkward syllable: "This is the story of the Tyeyephoon......."