Good morning/ afternoon/ evening and welcome to the LD News. On today’s agenda we have news regarding the recent typhoon that hit Japan. We will be contacting our field reporter in Japan – Lenka. Hi, Lenka, so how are the things over there?
Hi, Lenka, thank you. It has not been so bad, at least here in Hiroshima. Moreover, it is not the first typhoon that has occurred during my presence, though I cannot deny that this one made a bigger impact.
When the first typhoon was announced over on the UK government website that I subscribed to, it did not really hit the area. There was some strong wind and rain, but that was it. I would say that it was even weaker than what we experienced last winter in Newcastle.
However, the one on Sunday/Monday was different. Not only were the Monday classes cancelled and the public transport paused due to the expected heavy rains, but, what is worse, we have received a warning from the Hiroshima city council. Even now, I still have not figured out how it is possible that I received the warning. Do not get me wrong, I do appreciate the thought. However, as the message appeared on my phone, it started making a really loud noise. Basically an alarm and our watchers do know about my experience with the alarms. (IYKYK) I did not know how to turn it off or at least down and it was not just one warning, there were multiple, as there were more details, always accompanied by the alarm, so I was really close to a panic attack. Not because the typhoon, but because of the alarm.
Having translated the message from Japanese (using my beloved Google Translate’s photo translation), I found out that it was a warning of 4th degree. What does it mean? If only I knew. But we did receive some valuable advice from our Japanese friends – do not hang your clothes outside! And then, finally, it started raining.
A typhoon is a name for a tropical storm in Asia. In Japanese, it is called “taifuu”, which could literally mean big wind. So, as the name suggest, there was a strong wind as well.
Frankly, as I did not have a reason to leave my room, I was quite enjoying the view, I found it really calming and exciting, as I could finally feel the temperature dropping from the hellish “feels like 38°C at 9pm”. Indeed, as it was raining quite heavily for a whole day, the river level has risen, but at least in my area, the situation was not as grave. Despite the alarm. So other than that, I have nothing to complain about, very unlike me.
That was Lenka for LD News from Japan. Now, back to Lenka in studio.
Thank you for your insight, Lenka. Now let us move onto…
