Milenyo paralyzes Manila

A super-typhoon named Milenyo ravaged Manila and nearby provinces last Thursday triggering a Luzon-wide power failure over the last couple of days. Electricity in my area was restored around 10:30 this morning, after being in the dark for about 50 hours. Some areas are still on blackout as of the moment.

Good thing IBM called off work as it was very difficult to get around town with the strong winds threatening to sweep you off. Only employees involved in critical processes as outlined in IBM's BCP guidelines were required to either come to the office, or be available to work at home. The latter, I think, was quite impossible as how can you go online if you don't have electricity. I skipped work altogether once I received notice of the announcement. On hindsight, I would've done quite a lot more things if I went to the office as there was a multitude of generators providing power to the building. Instead of staying at home with absolutely nothing to do, I could've drowned myself surfing the net.

I was watching CNN earlier and they were broadcasting news of the destruction brought about my Milenyo to the Philippines. They mentioned that the strength of the typhoon equalled that of a Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean region.

The atmosphere has cleared and things are slowly getting back to normal. I hope there won't be any Milenyo til the next millenium comes.