Typhoon Conson

Last night, Friday July 16th, was absolutely terrifying. Typhoon Conson (category 1, 86 mph winds) went right over our city, Sanya on Hainan Island.

It was so loud for 8 or more hours that my ears are ringing as though I went to a concert. I didn't sleep at all, maybe around 4am I finally fell asleep, and from 1am onward I had Josie on one side of me and Oscar on the other, me face down on the bed, with my arms around them like seatbelts because I was so sure the windows would blow in and suck us out of the room.

The windows, doors, fans were all shaking violently. The noise outside from the wind and rain and crashing trees was unreal. There are fallen trees, street lamps, billboards, signs - everywhere. There is so much destruction.

Palm trees snapped in half, entire trees uprooted. Our huge garden in the apartment complex lost about 1/3 of its trees.

Miraculously we didn't lose power but we watched transformer after transformer of other buildings blow up and then they lost power. Probably 4-5 times. Our elevators don't have lights though now Mike tells me, but at least we have 1 of our 3 elevators working.