Video from my phone really doesn't do a typhoon justice but I tried. Typhoon Soudelor made landfall this morning. It hadn't started raining at 5:00 this morning but the wind was starting to howl. By 6:00 the rain started pouring down and the wind started to pick up. It's noon now and both the sustained wind and the wind gusts have really intensified. I watched the top of a tree across the street get torn off and the fencing around the lot outside our balcony has been getting pulled apart piece by piece and sent flying.

Our apartment faces east and the winds are generally from the northwest so we've had some of the windows open so we can listen to the storm. Surprisingly very little rain has blown into the apartment. Apparently we've gotten nearly 10 inches of rain so far (although I don't know how you can measure rainfall when the wind blows it around like this) and sustained winds of over 50 mph. I didn't really know what that meant before today. When a really strong gust of wind comes by we can feel it in our ears just before we can hear it outside. The change in pressure explains why my still-healing broken arm has been aching so much today.

I just watched a couple of people walk down the street. I guess the fact that they were wearing motorcycle helmets while they went for a walk during a hurricane makes them slightly smarter than the average idiot? I'm really interested in seeing the damage first-hand but I can wait until the storm passes. That should be late this afternoon or evening.