Driving Around After Bavi

By Wednesday, I needed to escape. I hadn't left the church since Saturday morning.  It was time to see other humans.  (Actually, I just wanted something to eat other than peanut butter.)

As I started driving, I realized how fortunate I really was.  There were trees down, poles down, structures destroyed, and all the traffic lights are crooked (if they hadn't blown off).  Traffic can be pretty intense in Guam.  The National Guard were manning intersections. I have no idea how you could have driven on this island without their help.  The main drag on island is six lanes. The other major routes are 4 lanes.  Intersections of that magnitude required some assistance. 

Traffic lights at the airport were going, so that little area had power!  And as I drove down the hotel district, those traffic lights were also working. (But I think most of the hotels were being powered by generator.)  

I decided I would go to the mall, walk some, and get something from the food court for lunch.  When I pulled up to the mall, I noticed there were way too many parking spots available.  I parked, pulled open their FB page and said it was closing at 1pm.  I'm guessing their generators weren't working well enough.  

So I circled back to Donki. I thought I would sit in their food court area, have a fish taco, and work on the youth retreat in a nice cool environment.  When I walked in to Donki, I realized they may be open, but they didn't have enough power to run the air con. So...I ate my fish taco and just went home to sweat and work. 

Overall, I was super grateful that the damage wasn't worse for me, that I had water, and that I had a full tank of gas that provided air con while I was driving around and could charge 3 devices at once! (It's the little things.)

The Damage

<Eventually pics will be added to this blog>

On Tuesday it stopped raining. I knew the earlier I tackled clean up the better because there was no air con and it wasn’t going to get any cooler.  But though I didn't have power, I never lost my water!  Hallelujah! (I did know people to lose water. I was just blessed.)

The grounds around the church compound wasn’t too bad.  I have a feeling it was because there was a typhoon 3 months ago (and a major one 3 years ago). So all the small trees had already blown down.  Mostly it was just leaves.  I did find a poor dead bird.

The solar lights blew off the church so that was the real damage on the outside.

Inside the Sanctuary, the front doors had been blown open. We had covered the glass doors with a tarp, then typhoon shutters, then sandbags. But a significant amount of water still got in the church.  However except sweep out the tiled foyer, there was nothing I could do without power.  So the water just got to sit in the carpet and get smelly. Very smelly. (I am guessing I never took a picture of this.)

The Sunday School building still had it’s roof! Praise the Lord. But there was more leaking…more damaged ceiling tiles… So I swept up the water from all the expected places, picked up the tiles, swept up the tiles.  But the pastors office, that has carpet, got flooded.  Again, nothing I could do without power. So it got smelly. Very smelly.

Then I go back in the house and find more water. HOW!?  I’m going to be a really good mopper when this is all said and done.

Typhoon Bavi

Typhoon Bavi came and went.  It was quite a storm.  My hunkering began about noon on Saturday, July 4^th. Not so much because of the weather, but I really just didn’t feel good.  I knew that I needed to be fully rested to battle the water that was about to come my way.  When I landed, I hit the ground running. Never had any jet lag that way.  But my body was tired. It came to the islands tired. And I fear I was getting really sick. (Thankfully, in the end I think it was the island mold + tired. Not Guam Flu.)

It rained a little on Saturday, but nothing crazy.  Sunday morning was again scattered showers that would come and go. Church was cancelled more so people could make final preparations over safety concerns.  Most people work 6 days a week in this culture. So they really needed time to finish boarding, etc.  The government had asked everyone to be in their safe spots by sunset.  And by sunset it was getting a little windy.  But I’m from Oklahoma, and it needs to be a lot windy for me to care or notice.

I shared about the shutters falling the previous blog.  

After that blog post. Things got noisy and stayed noisy for the next 24 hours. 

All through the night was bang, bang, bang.  Shutters and boards beat against the windows from the wind. I would get up to check for flooding and was happy to not find any….yet.  My watch showed 3:40 of sleep that night.

Finally, I just got up and continued doing as much computer stuff as I could.  Everyone I knew on Saipan and Guam had lost power except for me, so I knew it was a matter of time.  I was thankful to have more cup of coffee…and one more hot meal…

When the winds shifted, here came the rain. I used every single towel the house had to soak up water…and the mop.  It mostly just came in three spots which helped. Once the power went out, I read a book.  There were two fiction books at the church and parsonage. Amish books. I figured that was fitting as that’s how I was about to live!

But Monday night the banging subsided.  I slept on the couch because I could open the doors for air.  (The windows had shutters....or "shutters" I should say.) The doors have locking metal screens so I figured I was safe enough...and seriously, we were still in the middle of the typhoon. Who was going to be kidnapping in that kind of weather?

I slept over 9 hours.  On the couch. I was tired.

And there you have it folks.  I survived the great Typhoon Bavi 2026. 

Bavi Cometh

 I'm not sure why my photos won't upload.  Eventually, I will go back and add them.  

It has rained off and on all day.  Occasionally the sun would come out. (It was in the moments, I thought to myself, "You know...you could go to the beach for a while."  My favorite moment today was in the NWS 3:30pm briefing, the governor attended and told all the surfers they had their fun, now go home. (The Marianas doesn't really get waves--except when storms come. So when the storms come, the surfers flock to the ocean!)

About 5:30 we started getting heavy rain.  Then thunder. Thunder is exciting because it doesn't happen out here.  When I saw that Saipan was losing power, I decided to do the things I needed to do. Like one more shower...just in case.  

At about 8:00pm, I was sitting in the living room when I heard a crash.  It really wasn't windy enough for major excitement.  I went outside and a shutter had fallen off.  I came back in. Another crash.  I go back outside, another shutter had fallen off.  Apparently the guys didn't pin two of the windows.  

It wasn't a job I could do by myself (mostly because I can't close the shutters blocking the doors), so I had to call reinforcements to help.  But with only 3 cars on the entire road system, he made it quickly.  

Shutters are now secured (ish).  

Time to get some sleep and see what morning holds.  It will be getting bad when I wake up. But it has turned a smidge north, so maybe not bad bad. 

The Supplies

 ~33 gallons of drinking water. Check

~50 gallons of flushing/cleaning water. Check.

~Cleaning supplies. Check. (Probably should have gotten more trash bags.  The church building should have...you know, if the roof doesn't blow away.)

~Power bank fully charged. Check. (Should get 2-3 charges to my phone.)

~4 Ryobi batteries fully charged. Check. (This can run a fan.  Remember...For probably 24 hours or so, I will be full enclosed in a house without air conditioning.  It will be hot. But I have ~70 hrs of fan time. So that's good.)

~USB fan fully charged. Check.

~Solar light and solar fan/light combo (today's score!!!) charged. Not check. I guess I wait until the sun returns.

~Radio.  I found one today! Put batteries in and it started playing country music.  Check.

~Candles, matches, lighters, oil lamp. Check

~ 2 random lights that can be charged and are fully charged. Check

~Pantry full of food. Check.  (I also have a gas stove, so that's good.)

~Laundry done. Check. 

~Full tank of gas and extra 5 gal gas. Check.

~Anything within 5 feet of a window packed up.  Almost. (The people that live here have a young child, and I think homeschool. There's plenty of books, crafts, games, toys in front of the windows. Whew.)

~Popcorn popped.  Happening next. :)

~Furniture moved away from doors and windows.  Will do when I get closer to time.

I can't remember if I already said, but I will not be alone in the storm.  There's "kid" that live so on the property that will join me when it gets crazy. There's also a neighbor who has indicated she may come over. There's three couches we can push far from windows, and be fine.  Also, the house is built with a hall way with no outside doors or windows if this became a worst case scenario.  I am in a safe place. :) I'm more worried about the clean-up. 

And More Preparation

<Note: I have photos to accompany this blog, but they aren't uploading.  My wifi has been packed up for the storm, so I am guessing I don't have enough "power" to upload from my hotspot.  I will go back and add them....some day.>

I have been in typhoons before.  Two.  (But they were Cat 1 & 2.)  I have been through numerous tropical storms.  The last one was also July 4^th weekend.  (Actually, that’s a lie.  I was in one last summer in the Philippines.)  In my previous storms, I was always living with the luxurious pull closed shutters.  However, this round was not so easy. Only one of the 4 buildings we had to secure had such awesomeness.  And water is notorious to come in under the shutters in the sanctuary, so we needed sandbags. Oh, and two of the buildings have tin roofs. They are so blowing off.  (But the windows are secure! LOL)

Thankfully, a few of my former youth came through to help batten down the hatches.  We laughed a lot, complained a little, and did the best we could.

Along the way, I decided the least I could do was go buy food. So, we had a Chinese feast in the middle of the “fun.”  Two more had shown up while I was buying food, so I was worried I didn’t have enough.  Thankfully, what I got fed us all (and me two more times)! 

So, what do you do when you don’t have enough coverings for windows and doors?  You bust out the saw and cut up tables out of the church. Not even joking. (The picture with them trying to put the tin over the window....yeah, that so didn't work.)

Perry’s tired. I’m tired. But there’s no resting.  I have drawn up 30 gallons of drinking water.  (It is slow because it comes from a filtered system. Thankfully, I already had about 15 gal.)  Now I’m working on water for toilets and to wash up with.  I can deal with no power, but I sure hope the Lord spares our water! 

The first shower came at about 4:30pm on July 4^th.  It will be off on and for 12+ hours. Then it will get serious.

Preparation

Perry and I generally hit the island running with immediate obligations.  This year I did have three glorious days before I had to officially do something.  But during those days, I needed to prep for Saipan VBS.  Though I just did the VBS, I didn't teach the Bible stories and in Saipan it's sort of a mesh of music, videos, Bible stories, memory.  All that to say, I wasn't totally free to lollygag. 

Before I took off from Tulsa, I noticed a little weather looming over the Pacific. It wasn't even a tropical depression yet, much less a storm. So I didn't worry too much.  At some point over the Pacific, I received a message from the Saipan pastor sending me a graphic and wondering if I had a wiggle room to postpone VBS a week.  (Thanks Elon for messaging at 38,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean!) Though I can't see images when flying, I knew whatever was sent probably wasn't good. By the time I landed in Japan, VBS was postponed one week.  In theory, that gave me lollygagging time when I got to Guam.

But by the time I reached Guam, all the experts were calling for a typhoon (and most likely super typhoon) to fall between Guam and Pagan.  Guam is the southern most Mariana island and Pagan being the northern most of the Marianas.  There's not a lot a girl can do at 11pm after no sleep. But by the next day, craziness ensued.  

I had a couple of priorities (beach, phone, food) but then the serious stuff began.  And when you see sandbags at the hotel your swimming at, you know it's getting serious. 

I started doing the things...food, water, batteries, candles, lighters, matches....but I just wanted something solar.  I had the feeling this was going to be crazy.  I had to come home for a few minutes (mostly out of sheer exhaustion.  I was up 30 hours...slept 5...and now I'm preparing for doom.)  I did a search to see if Home Depot had a solar power supply in stock.  Website said they did.  But when I arrived at Home Depot, the parking lot said other wise.  Picture with me the most nightmarish black Friday scene you have ever witnessed.  Now multiply that times 100.  Bam...Home Depot Guam a couple of days before a storm.  The parking lot is bigger than my home town's lot.  Every spot was filled. There was a traffic jam getting in and a traffic jam leaving.  Inside, baskets were overflowing.  Needless to say, nothing solar. :(

Defeated, I returned home.  As I was getting out of my car someone drove up.  One of the church ladies.  Soon another one drove up.  I think they were worried I'd get on a plane and leave island. ha ha  (Trust me, I have considered it.)

On my second day of preparations, I again had priorities.  Beach.  Pool. Water

But then I decided to make a second trip to Kmart. Maybe there was a hidden item I missed the day before.  Hidden item!?  It's like they went to the dungeon and pulled out all things typhoon!  (I did learn tonight from a former youth who worked at Kmart that they indeed have a warehouse with all things typhoon stored. Except for the good stuff like a generator.) It was like Christmas.  A couple of battery lights here. Some batteries there.  And a solar light with a USB charger.  Woohoo!  (Kmart was also mass craziness. But I don't know if it was so much getting all the typhoon supplies or because Friday is $6 hot and ready large pizzas at Little Caesars. Seriously, the line goes to the back of the store. I waited in it once for youth pizzas years ago.  Never again.)

 

Perry and I celebrated my solar find with Spam Fried Rice!