Nepartak - Formosahut forum

I'd say Taiwan is pretty much the bullseye.

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Yeah, not looking good. I've got a couple of young 'little helpers' here at the moment. Yesterday morning i was saying, 'Nothing to worry about! It's gonna graze northern Taiwan - won't be a big deal here - may not even rain - we might get some Foehn Wind'.

Then the the track changed to Ilan, then Hualien city, now it's getting close to Cheng Gong. And it's a monster.

Now the scramble is on to get prepared...

Got the 'little helpers' evacuated to a hostel and I'm esconed in my tin shed on a hill and in the process of riding it out.

Hard days's work doing the prep - all the windows are boarded, trees staked, drains cleared, poultry locked up, and loose objects stowed. The power went out with the first few gusts of wind and i thought, 'that sucks - i was expecting the power to go out at some stage, but in the first five minutes!? Fuck.' To my pleasant surprise, it came back on about two hours later so good job whoever got out there and fixed it.

Right now, it's just moving up a notch - getting a lot more sustained with some house shakers coming through every few minutes. And we're still several hours away from the eye - so gonna be a bumpy night. Got serious concerns for my roof in this storm, and as always seems to be the case, the peak will come in the middle of the night.

Even as i write it's building - the wild gusts are now becoming the 'sustained' bit - this is a hell of a storm. Not masses of rain here so far, thankfully, but that wind is roaring...

Good thing you got your guests moved out so you can now enjoy the show! It looks absolutely massive and like you are indeed taking a direct hit.

Wow!

For a one thing, i can't believe the electricity is still on!

If this was a racehorse then you would be happy - every time you think it's going at full speed it seems to find another gear. This must be eye-wall now.

Things are really shaking - just hoping those roof screws can hang on another hour or so and we should be in the eye

Just poked my head out the back door - there are trees down and it's totally raging - just this massive, angry energy

Video!

Unfortunately the battery on my camera is stuffed - won't recharge. Wouldn't you know it - storm of the century - right in the middle of it - and the battery gives up.

I actually drove into Taidong to try and buy a new one but of course they don't stock them and looked at me like i was mad for even asking

And too dark for phone camera

But FUCK! It's raging! Trees down and things flying around and just one massive sustained gust!

Say hi to Dorothy!

No shit! The walls are buckling! All sorts of strange noises. I was worried about the roof but now it looks like the walls are about to pop.

I'm going to take shelter in the bedroome,

Where's that fucking eye?!

Looks like it's just about over you...

See if this helps.
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The good news is that the wind should start coming from the south for a change.. oh wait... that's your vulnerable side... well

Good luck!

EDIT: Wait... the north is your vulnerable side. You may make it yet!

Eye should truly be right over you now.

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So, it's first light and not a pretty sight.

The wind has dropped off but still gusting strongly from the north east and raining heavily.

Somehow that wall survived, and most of the house has gotten through intact, though it's flooding in the house.
A scene of devastation outside. Virtually every tree on my property is down. Just flattened. There’s a large bit of metal sheeting at the back of my house – not sure where it’s come from – but I will need to deal with it coz when the wind changes it’s coming right back at me. Lots of other stuff strewn around.

Poultry houses have survived but i noticed the portable duck A-frame house is not where i put it and facing a different direction!
Fences are down. Power is dropping in and out

Good to hear your house is still standing. Trees will grow back but the fences, ouch. Seems to be moving pretty quickly. I'm surprised you still have electricity.

Look at the bright side. Lots of driftwood for the next couple of months!

Yeah, 'the bright side' still looks a bit dim at this stage. I look out the window and see weeks of work to repair things. And it's not over. I don't expect the south winds to be as strong but given we are right in the centre, then it's still gonna be considerable

The good news is that my house is more-or-less intact. That's really a minor miracle. And i'm alive!

Much worse than the big typhoon we had a few years back - i've been in some hairy situations with typhoons but nothing quite like this in terms of my own house being under threat - ok Nari was like that but different coz it was a rain thing - this is a pure wind typhoon

The level of rain is high but not a major concern at the moment - wait and see how much rain is in the back half

We are still in the 'lull' though it's by no means the clear sky above and calm eye type thing

It's almost calm now and the wind is shifting a bit.

As is often the case, the typhoon took an unexpected turn as it hit the mountains and has skirted back down the coast towards Pingdong. That may have actually prolonged the agony a bit here as it stalled for a while as it turned south - we are right on the turning point.

I see some place in Pingdong has had 100 mil in last hour - thank God, nothing like that here - though boy, those winds - that was quite scary.

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Looks like you may have some rain yet to come. I wouldn't let the chickens out quite yet! It looks like Kaohsiung/Pingtung is going to get hammered with rain. Relatives in Pingtung are reporting wind damage there as well. This thing took a turn south, now it's going to run up the west side of the mountain range and pull all that rain right up into SW Taiwan. Let's hope in moves quickly.

Here's some video: http://udn.com/news/story/10006/1815915

'Holy fuck' pretty much encapsulates it. In fact it's right up there with Nari and 921 in terms of 'Holy fuckness'.

Had to chainsaw my way out today, starting from my own driveway and had a drive around. Holed up on a hill all night with the roaring rage of wind (and other weird sounds i'd never heard the wind make before, like a bassoon almost), i needed to get out and kind of calibrate.

That was very saddening and made me feel incredibly lucky as well. In Taidong city, there has been ferocious destruction. Cars flipped, roofs torn off, and wreckage strewn on every street that i drove on. Some of it can be put down to shoddy shop signage installation, but if the wind is strong enough to flip cars then it's gonna cause destruction. This typhoon was like a massive, slow moving tornado.

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Holy shit! It's amazing more people weren't hurt. Maybe it's a good thing you didn't have a working video camera. You would have been tempted to stick your neck out!

I did work out eventually that i could connect the camera straight to a power outlet, but it was the middle of the night and hard to convey the intensity of it. I'll take a look at it tomorrow

Got some concerns for Pingdong, Hualien and Ilan tonight. If it moves on, then that's good, but otherwise it's set up as a reverse Morakot, feeding straight into the mid east coast.

Anyway, relatively calm here tonight - a few heavy showers but not sustained thank God - i'm ready for a break from that level of drama

More pics here:

https://www.facebook.com/dulandrift.Taidong/photos/?tab=album&album_id=172431988450...

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