Tuesday, September 18, 2007

No Snow Days Here...Just Typhoon Days

Shanghai is in the midst of typhoon season. Typhoon Wipha has been dumping tons of rain and causing havoc on the traffic. 1.8 million people have been evacuated from the coastal area and we've been experiencing winds reaching 165 miles per hour. Tony was at a meeting in town yesterday and it took him over 4 hours to get home last night. The journey started at 5:30PM and he walked in the door at about 9:30PM. Matthew returned from school completely soaked from the run from the bus stop and it took me almost 3 hours to get home from the center of town. The roads were flooded and it was like a large shower turned on and was left on. Tons of rain clogged the roads and it was pretty dicey that I could make it home. It was surreal to see people on their bicycles trying to navigate through the high waters on the roads. Visibility was pretty poor and cars were stuck on the side of the road because of the high water levels.

Matthew and I moved all the patio furniture to the corner, brought in the bike and razor scooter and took the umbrella off the table. The last thing I need is to see anything flying through the deck doors. Nope- not on my list of things to do. All I can say is thank goodness I have things in the freezer to make for dinner. I was supposed to go out today with my cousin to go shopping and pick up food for tonight's dinner. In fact, we have enough food in the pantry to last us a week if needed. Those who know us, know that you will never starve in this house.

Massive flight delays and the storm is not at it's worst. We're expecting the worst to take place this afternoon. The City of Shanghai has ordered all schools and businesses to be closed today. Matthew's pretty happy since he doesn't get snow days here anymore. It doesn't snow in Shanghai. He gets typhoon days instead. It's never a dull moment with us.