If you read regularly then you know I use the Dragon Diaries posts to offer real time information on happenings in Vietnam. The Constant Epicurean Posts are often written weeks after the events, so the Dragon Diaries gives me an outlet for real time updates. I thought after this last lockdown lifted the Dragon Diaries would go into a slumber state, but I was very mistaken.
It has been a long dry season. At times brutally hot, rain almost non existent, humid, and just typical jungle conditions. Yesterday we awoke to rain. The first rain of the monsoon season that usually begins in mid September. Right on time. I was looking forward to slightly cooler days and an overall more comfortable environment. I love the monsoon season. My feet get just wet enough under a poncho on the motorbike to keep cool.
An Unknown Monster Approaches
It was an average day at the shop other than the fresh rain. Customers came and went, a few projects in the shop completed. As the day was winding down Diem remarked that we would go to the big market on the way home. To stock up on supplies for the next day or two. A bit puzzled, I asked why. Diem informed me that the weather would be particularly bad the next day, maybe two, and we were expected to stay home. The shop would not be opening.
It was odd to close the shop for some rain I thought. I don’t remember shops being closed in bad weather before. Oh well, I brushed it off and we gathered our things. We cleaned up the shop and closed out the day. We headed to the Big C market near the river and made our way inside. The market was very busy for a standard weeknight. Something was definitely different about whatever storm was coming in the night.
Signs All Around
We grabbed some fresh meat, drinks, a few vegetables, and a couple of precooked items in case that the electricity failed. It was not the most comfortable ride home. The rain was strengthening as well as the wind. Diem and I were trying our best to stay dry under the ponchos. All while keeping our groceries from becoming casualties and trying to keep all of my electronics including my computer dry. I felt a bit like a circus clown maneuvering as best I could loaded down with props on a unicycle.
As we made our way across the bridge towards the coast and our apartment things were obviously more serious than I realized. Restaurants were tying down furniture and securing entrances, businesses were shuttering their awnings and umbrellas. Whatever was on the verge here, everyone was taking it seriously. Even as we arrived at our building the family that operates the apartment had taken measures. They had pulled much of the furniture in from our patio. Thank you. Placed towels under outside doors, even tied down the massive glass sheet that lays over the light well on the roof.
Still Not Convinced
Amidst all of this, I still within the confines of my mind, felt that nothing major was occurring. I hadn’t heard of any typhoons or cyclones, of course I don’t watch the news either, and I just knew if something that significant was happening I would know. After all, these happenings were concurrent with the arrival of the monsoon season. Maybe this was just standard procedure for the coming onslaught of months of torrential rain.
Knowing we were having an unusual day off for weather, we made a simple yet delicious dinner, and I settled in to catch up on a few episodes of Picard. I enjoyed a few cocktails, which was a nice treat, and was fast asleep oblivious to the world.
A Less Than Restful Night
The first time I woke up it was about 1:30 am ACT, ASEAN Common Time. The clap of thunder was so loud it felt like it was inside the stairwell of the building. I had awakened seconds prior to the sound by a flash, that even with my eyes closed, rocked my mind into a hazy lucidness. Even with the heavy curtains drawn it lit the room in a flash of brilliant light. I was aware of Diem beside me, she made no acknowledgement nor even a slight shudder. Lulled into a feeling of security, I dozed back into a restless sleep.
Over the course of the night I was awakened many times, often to the whistling howls of the building. It was really ominous. The sound of debris, tree limbs, trash, anything unsecured, was pounding the outer wall of our apartment. The wind continued to whistle through the building in the night. Lightning, thunder, the unnerving sound of a low rumbling noise with depth and volume. My mind raced to the descriptions of tornadoes. “It sounded like a train”, was exactly what I thought I was hearing.
The Morning After
It was about 7am when I finally decided to get up. It had been a difficult night for sleep. Even now the howling of the wind, the rhythmic bangs of the kitchen door from the pressure, the heavy pounding of the rain was still loud and drowning. I got up and walked into the kitchen. The sliding door into the kitchen had been left open with about a 1/2 inch gap. Our bathroom has a window that stays open up at ceiling level. That window combined with the kitchen door being left open, and the 1/2 inch space under our main entrance created the howling noise. As soon as I opened the kitchen door it stopped. I should have checked it earlier.
As I stepped into the kitchen the floor was covered in water. The wind was so strong in the night that it was literally pushing water through the seals around the kitchen windows. Additionally the bathroom was pretty wet. The window opens from the bottom out. Designed to act as a shield to keep water from entering. Last night the wind must have been blowing it up into the window. The storm was still pretty strong outside and the bathroom was still being sprayed. I shut the bathroom door and booted up my computer.
Realizing The Situation
I immediately started looking up weather events in the region, but was coming up short. There isn’t a weather station every 20 miles here, or whatever it is in the US, so pictures of what is going on from a meteorological stand point are not as clear. It is easy to get information after the fact, but real time information is more difficult. I looked at my local English language news papers and was shocked. I have been so busy lately that I haven’t read my local paper in a week. Shame on me. If I had I would have already known that Tropical Cyclone Noul was making landfall at the moment I was looking up information about local weather events.
The evacuation of 500,000 had occurred just north of us. Vietnamese authorities had already coordinated response teams, requisitioned equipment and supplies for the fall out. It was a major weather event, and I had no idea and mostly slept, though not very well, through it all. I guess the old saying is true. Ignorance is bliss. I sat on the eve of a potential typhoon, drinking cocktails and watching Star Trek, oblivious to any danger.
Appraising The Situation
It is hard to determine the real scope of the storm. Some organizations say it was a tropical cyclone, some say it reached full Typhoon status just before landfall. Where landfall actually was is still hard to determine. One video I watched said it occurred at 3am south of Da Nang, another said it will happen at noon north of Da Nang. One thing is certain, the weather reporting systems here have some work to do. There just isn’t the mass propagation of weather information, or statistics, as there is in the west.
On a side note, it appears to have been confirmed by NASA and the NOAA that Noul did in fact reach typhoon status before making landfall just north of Da Nang. I can now add sitting through a Typhoon to my resume. The rain eventually died down to a sprinkle by mid morning as we trailed into the tail of the Typhoon. Though the winds have continued to maintain a decent strength now just before noon. Of course I had to wander out into the street to check out the damage. Which I surprisingly found to be minimal. A few overturned large potters and a downed tree at the top of the street.
The City Handled It Well
The infrastructure of the city is well designed to mitigate flooding. It seems to have absorbed any storm surge effectively. I’ve noticed over the years that unless there are just days of torrential downpour, it seems to be managed well. Noul is expected to slow down as it hits the central mountains. Forecasts have it stalling over the Cambodian, Laos and Thai borders and causing some significant flooding inland. But for us it is pretty much complete. Even now the winds are calming down and other than some residual pockets it appears to be over.
It was a wild night in the coastal city of Da Nang, but all seems to be well. We are going to have a quiet day at home. Which is welcome. It is amazing how quickly things change. Two weeks ago we were praying for an easing of the lockdown so we could go back to work. Today it’s nice to have a restful day at home. You never know when a tired situation can turn into a welcome one. We will be back to the grind tomorrow. Customers coming and going, the street teaming with the buzz of life. I’m still still blown away, pun intended, that I only realized a Typhoon had blown over me after it was gone.
Click Here for our short video on the beginning of the typhoon and the next morning.
Or here for the US embassies weather alert for US citizens in the area.
Click the links below for articles on Typhoon Noul.
Localities told to prepare for typhoon Noul.
Nasa Report 1 Noul – Northwestern Pacific Ocean
Typhoon No. 5 in Vietnam in 2020 (Noul).
Tropical storm Noul to develop into a typhoon as it approaches central Vietnam.
In addition click here for previous Dragon Diaries.
