There had already been warnings of the cyclone Nargis lurking around the coast since the end of April, but I had thought that it won't come our way because in my life time, a cyclone had never reached us in Yangon. Previously, most of the storms that occured in the Bay of Bengal mostly went into Bangladesh or India, or sometimes, into the coast of Rakhine. At that time, we were reading reports from several weather agencies online that the cyclone will pass between Rakhine state, and Ayewarddy Division. But almost only at the last minute that the storm changed directions.

I guess I, as well as many other people, had underestimated the strength of the cyclone. Previously, we were reading in the newspaper and watching the weather on the news (which only come at night-time btw), but I didn't really look into it. After all, they were just saying, "Nargis Cyclone is located some blah blah miles at blah-blah direction in the Bay of Bengal". I didn't bother to check in the map how near the storm was to Yangon; the thought never occurred to me that it'll even get near Yangon. The path of the storm was unclear at that time, and I only got to know on the 2nd (precisely after 1pm, cos that was when I read the news section in forum, and someone had written that the storm was heading towards Yangon, and that it had just passed "Hi-Gyi" island)

On May 2nd, we got news that the storm was heading directly into Yangon, so the employees were released to go back home early at 2pm. Even at that time, I was planning to stay until office hour was over because looking outside, the sun was still shining. But later, after being urged by friends online to go back home early, I went back home. When I got home, electricity was still on, so we opened TV, and on MRTV 3, there was a news flash scrolling, saying that the storm had passed Hi-gyi Island and is on its way towards Ayeyarwaddy, Yangon, Bago, and Mon States. The radio station was also broadcasting warnings of this. Electricity was cut off at 6:30pm according to ration schedule, so we just sit around with emergency lights. It had started raining, but it was not very windy yet. So I went to bed around 9pm. I hardly ever wish anything whenever I prayed, but that night, I prayed that the storm will not cause many casualties. I wasn't able to fall asleep quickly, because of the noises of the rain falling on the roof, but I think I did nodded off. 

When I woke up, it was around 2:30am, and the wind was howling now. I can hear noises on the roof, and I was afraid that the roof, even though it's one of those big one-piece roof that covers the whole house, will fly away with the wind. So I got my pillow and a blanket and went into the living room and found my mom and my cousin sitting on the seats with a candle lit. They couldn't sleep either, I guess. My father was praying in the shrine room, and my brother was awake too. It wasn't raining heavily at that time, but there was very strong wind. I can hear the next door house's windows slamming shut and open again (no one was at home) and hear shattering sounds - the charms and the decorative lamps on that house falling down on the ground, and some windows breaking. Even though I thought I had closed my room's window tightly, I guess it wasn't, cos it flew open and slammed the walls and back again, and 3 glass panes shattered. So we had to tie the windows with the ropes to be sure they were closed. We just sat on the chairs in the living room, wrapping our blankets around us to keep out the mosquitoes, and tried to get some sleep. I think I got some sleep for about an hour until I woke up again around 5am.

By that time, it was already getting light outside, so we can see the trees and everything, all moving around like it's going to fall any moment. It looks more scary since we can see with our eyes now. We looked outside and saw that the make-shift water-proof roof of the restaurant near our house had collapsed. The night-watch stand had flipped over (though I could have sworn I heard 3 chimes from there at 3am - maybe the watchman had run away later). The tall coconut trees were swaying left and right so dangerously, but none had fallen over. Even amidst all this wind and chaos, there were people outside, wearing raincoats and umbrellas, picking mangoes and jack-fruits from the streets. Electricity had been cut ever since it started raining, thank god, because the electric poles had bent and the cables were hanging on the road. It started raining heavily and the wind was howling, and my brother's room was leaking from the windows, so I had to help him soak up the water from the floor and wring it out into a bucket. I was praying for either the wind or the rain to stop because we were getting tired of wringing out the water. Around 10am, the heavy rain stopped, and was just falling, and it wasn't so windy anymore, so we were able to leave my brother's room, and tend to other parts of the house and dry them up.

The wind and the rain stopped at around 2pm, I think, I'm not sure about the time anymore. Soon, people started coming out and look around in the neighborhood. The trees that have been on our street ever since we were young - the two big star-flower trees where we always picked the flowers that fell onto the ground - had been uprooted. The road was blocked by one of this tree, and another tree, and people were already cutting the tree to pieces so that a car or two can pass. Already, the people were lining up in front of the shops that sell those aluminum sheets that you cover the roof with. The tea shop near my house had a big tree branch on its roof, but when a customer came, not soon after the wind stopped, asking if he can get a cup of tea, saying he hadn't had any tea the whole day today, the teashop owner was telling him, "Ofcourse, we're selling."

On Sunday, the prices haven't climbed very much yet at that time, at least not in our local wet market. I was hearing the climbing prices at other markets in downtown area - 20 liter water bottle costing more than 1000 Ks. ($1) when it was previously just 350 Ks. An egg costs 300 ks. when it was previously just around 130 Ks. The prices of vegetables have climbed abit - 3 branches of watercress selling for 500 Ks. But meat, such as chicken and pork, didn't climb very high - just around 600 Ks. for 10 kyat-thar. (It's a Burmese weighting system- don't know what it is in pounds). All around Yangon, there were shortage of water since the water supplies had been cut off, and those who have wells, they have to use a water-pump, but no electricity. So some went to Inya Lake to get water, and bathed there. Our house has a small well, so we can carry water with a pail. Actually, most of the houses on our road had their own wells, since municipal water was unreliable (since our pipes always got stolen by other houses) so water was not a problem for us. And some of the monasteries let people come and bathe there and carry water.

On Monday, I went to work because I was called to come the night before. Thankfully, there was some buses running, and it cost 300 Ks. ( the bus ran from Sule to North Dagon Township) Our office was all wet because it was located in a high-rise building, and there was windows, and the water seeped in from the cracks. But luckily, our PC towers were on the floor, but on top of some styrofoam, so they didn't get wet. So we unhooked all the pc's, put them on the desks, and get to work. The building had no electricity but the generators operated, and we opened the air-conditioning, so the floor dried quickly. After eating lunch, we were dismissed, and told that we will be informed when we should come back to work. At that time, they were running the generators for only a short time (until 11:30am) because diesel was getting expensive: about 10,000 ks. ($10) per gallon on the black market, since the gas stations were closed down and were not distributing.

We came back to work on Thursday, and by that time, some of the downtown areas, including our office, had electricity again, connected from the underground cables. And the water was being distributed again, so I think the downtown apartments were able to receive water.

Internet connection broke down also, but I heard from some friends that some people were able to go online since last week's Monday. I was able to come online only starting from Wednesday, at the cyber-cafe near my house, which was the only one operating around the neighborhood. But the internet connection was really slow that I barely got the chance to check e-mail, much less read the news. (though I did get to look at the titles of the news relating to Myanmar Google News search). We have no generator at home (and will never have) so we didn't get to watch TV. We bought some batteries, and just listened to Naypyidaw Myanma Radio (City FM had stopped broadcasting) at 8pm for the news.

Luckily, my phone line didn't break down. We were still receiving a call at 5am at that time. It stopped working on Saturday evening (can hear the phone ring, but cannot hear what the other person was saying), but was working again Sunday afternoon.

My birthday was on May 8th. Previously, I had plan to make a BBQ party at my home on May 11 (since it was Sunday, my friends were free too), with 2 of my friends, and go to Hip-Hop Day concert in the evening. But when the time arrived, I was in no mood to celebrate. Already, I was hearing about the news and devastation in other parts of Ayeyarwaddy, and it made me felt so sad that so many innocent people had to suffer. I was angry at the merchants for raising the prices. I was angry at the government for not accepting the aids yet. My problems and most of Yangon's citizens problems were petty comparing to those storm-hit areas in Ayeyarwaddy Township.

I've just read news that the government had finally allowed US Aid Ship to come, and it had arrived today, and there was more to come. I hope that everything goes well with the plans and they were able to really help out, and not be deterred.

My parents says that they have never faced a storm such fierce before in Yangon. Heck.. not even a 90-year old person had experienced it. That's one of the reason why we were not prepared for it, taking it lightly. And also due to not very accurate weather forecasts. Yeah, sure, the storm warnings were posted since April 29, but exactly where it will hit - they did not say. I hope that they've learned their lessons by now too.