You know it's raining hard when your 16th floor apartment gets flooded. Because of the 100 MPH horizontal winds, water is pouring through one of our windows like a fire hose. Several other windows have minor leaks. Nothing a roll of duct tape can't fix. Jonathan is working on it now. Teenage boys and duct tape -- gotta be one of the wonders of the world. While wiping up the flood waters, I thought about the people 16 floors below who are really being flooded.

I thought about and prayed for our Life Scholars and their families who are probably losing the few possessions they own. Typhoon Xangsane, the worst storm to directly hit Metro Manila since 1995.  I remember that one in '95, but this one seems worse, at least right now from this high up. Different view from up here -- wind seems stronger and louder. Looking out of my kitchen window I see four motorcycles lying on the street.

One of the drivers is hugging a tree beside his fallen bike, holding on lest he is blown away like a leaf. I hope none of the flying debris from the construction site hits him. Could be fatal -- some pretty big stuff flying around. Several huge ancient flame trees that line the street are down. I hope they can be saved. Countless palm trees are flat on the ground -- easy to replace as they grow like weeds -- but those flame trees take generations to grow. Outside my bedroom window several construction workers are huddled together on the 18th floor of an unfinished building.

There are no walls yet, just cranes, steel and concrete. One worker is tying a rope around his waist so he won't get blown off the ledge. He slipped in the water a few minutes ago and almost went off the side to his death. I wonder why these guys went to work today when the whole city was shut down. I wonder if our building is leaking.

Tried to call Robert, but phone lines and cells are dead. Enough of my random thoughts during this storm. Here are a couple of links. Yahoo News has some pictures and Reuters has newsy details.