A week of super-typhoon warnings results in a bit of rain
Living here in Central Vietnam you kind of get used to the doomsday style of warnings that we receive a couple of times a year about how there is a super storm coming and everyone should latch down and seriously prepare for the end of the world. Ok, it isn't that bad but it really gets thrown at you from all directions. Vietnam government throws out blanket warnings, basically spamming you about the arrival of this typhoon that must just go out to every single phone number in existence here but they are just in Vietnamese. I rarely pay any attention to them.
Then there is the app called Zalo that is the Vietnamese version of Whatsapp or LINE and we were spammed in that as well. They do it every year so I am a bit desensitized to this and didn't prepare at all. There have been too many situations in the past 6 years or so where everyone freaked out and then nothing happened. During all the time there was only one actually dangerous event that happened and I guess it was bad enough to warrant the over-reaction that happened this time.
This image is from a few years ago in the aftermath of the storm, called Kajiki, did so much damage. That I heart Da Nang sign is normally about 2 meters above the sand line and there is a rock wall between it and where the sand normally is. It is safe to say that this storm was really violent.
Just a day or so after the storm passed though, there were a bunch of people on the same beach that were enjoying our larger than average waves
It's hard to tell because I didn't have time to zoom in, but there is a guy out there nearly catching a tube. I don't know much about surfing, but I do know when waves are big and this was a glory time for people that do enjoy the sport.
Anyway, the warnings game relentlessly and the city was buckled down. They had even cut off most delivery options for food and I don't know if this was mandated or elective on the part of the drivers but during that time, when we were at our apex of "danger" this is what it looked like
It's gloomy, a bit of rain, but the wind wasn't anything strong as you can tell by the netting still tucked on the side of that construction project down there. Basically nothing happened.
I had been getting messages from people all around the world wondering "are you ok, are you safe?" and it just kind of makes me wonder what sort of lies the news are telling to sensationalize this. Don't get me wrong, I realize that Typhoon Ragasa was really damaging to other places, especially Hong Kong where there were fatalities. But people that were frantically trying to contact me were claiming to have heard stories about how the news was telling them Da Nang was getting whipped around as well. NOT TRUE
A few hours after the "all clear" was given in multiple SMS and messenger apps I went down to a beach bar to join my friends and the place was absolutely slamming busy. The typhoon, if it hit us at all, only dropped less water than we would normally get during a regular rainy season. I guess I should consider us fortunate.
I'm not complaining about the government preparation, that is a good thing. I believe it is probably a good thing to err on the side of caution especially after Kajika whipped our butts so badly years ago. I do think it is just awful that the media either lies or doesn't have real information or footage and just throws it out there making people worry unnecessarily around the world. My family doesn't pay any attention to the news about this part of the world so they didn't even know, and I didn't tell them. haha
What's the take-away from all of this? Well I guess the only thing that is if you are here visiting or living and you start getting bombarded with warnings about an oncoming typhoon that you can go ahead and take it seriously but chances are it is not going to be anywhere near as extreme as they might make it sound like it could be. I guess they are just preparing for the worst possible outcome.
