I am trying to continue on normally here today, but please be aware that many of my in-law's are directly in the path of Super Typhoon Haiyan (Super Typhoon Yolanda to Filipinos). The eye of the storm is projected to pass almost directly over them, so they are in a very dangerous situation. Understandably, they are fearful for their lives, as are my wife and I.

With very strong winds up to and beyond 300 kph, and the large tidal surge that will accompany it, seeing as my in-law's village is probably not much more that 10 to 15 feet above sea level, and my wife and I have built them a concrete house, there is no guarantee that it can stand up to these forces that are coming (possibly already there). It has stood up to typhoons before, but nothing like this one.

I'll remember your family in my prayers, Mark. That kind of wind is really bad. Let's hope things don't turn out as bad as they look right now.

The typhoon has passed their area now. I guess we'll have to wait for power and telephone lines/cell phone towers to be restored before we know how they are. The waiting is always hard. :-/

Hoping that the news will be good.
Fabio

Still no news. We have been in contact with relatives in Manila and Roxas City. Like us, they can't get through to the village via phone/cell phone. My wife's Aunt, in Roxas City is going to see if the public transport system (Jeepney's) have started again today, and if so, someone will go and find out how they all are. Much of the province is in a brownout (blackout), so that doesn't help. Looking at a video of how Roxas City faired in the storm, the telephone/electricity lines are down, so we may have a couple more days before we know how they all are.

Sleep doesn't come easy under these circumstances, so both my wife and I are quite tired. We are both still very concerned and anxious for news. I said it before, but the waiting to hear from them is hard.

Not a good pic, but it is a frame from a Facebook video of Roxas City after the Typhoon had passed:

http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv58/Markoz958/Roxas_aftermath_zpse4839670.jpg~original

Just an update.

We are not sleeping well. We are too worried about the family. We have not heard anything from our family in Casanayan, but we have had contact with family in Roxas City, who also have not heard from anyone in Casanayan.

The village has suffered extensive damage, but there have been no loss of lives reported so far. So that's good.

Houses on/near the beach have been severely damaged/destroyed. The street that the house is on, many houses have been damaged/destroyed by coconut and lima trees falling on them. We are not yet sure if this includes their house.

The worst news we have gotten, is that the village of Binon An has at least 100 bodies floating in the bay. My father-in-law comes from there and his brothers house, in that village, was right on the waters edge! And I do mean the waters edge -last time I was there, 2004/05, I could sit on the back veranda and dangle my toes in the water! So it's not sounding good for them at all. This could mean that some of Lorna's Aunts/Uncles/Cousins may have perished in the storm. We pray they haven't.

Over the last 24 hours, we are seeing photos and videos of different areas of the Province (Capiz) and the bordering Province (Iloilo), and th destruction is heartbreaking. And now there are reports that another typhoon could develop and its projected path is almost identical to Haiyan/Yolanda's path. :(

http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv58/Markoz958/1399163_653863754657817_168506181_o_zpsa9c937cd.jpg
This is a view of the damage in Casanayan! Hopefully our house isn't in that bad a condition. :-/

http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv58/Markoz958/hhhhh022_zps246e6718.jpg
This is our house. The large antenna on the roof is for Cell Phone and WiFi (internet) reception - it was taken down before the typhoon came through.

Fingers crossed, hands clasped in prayer, thinking of you and your family.
Thanks for taking the time to keep us updated.

Good news! The family in Casanayan are all safe and well!!!!! A friend of my wife, went there yesterday (Aussie time) to find out how they all are for us. Unfortunately they had to walk quite a distance from the main highway to get to the Casanayan (about 2 or 3 kilometres), due to the road being blocked by fallen power lines and trees. The road was cleared late yesterday afternoon.

They really need food and water. This is quite normal under these circumstances. We are unsure of the condition of the house, but that's the least of our worries.

You should see my wife and I. We finally have smiles on our faces and the relief is enormous. We will sleep a lot better tonight! ;D

Good to hear that. Thanks for passing the word.

Indeed great to hear Mark. Saw the pictures on TV. Nature can be so powerful and reckless !
My very best wishes, Lex

Great news!

More good news. The house is good! It's roof is still on it. Phew! I guess it will need some minor repairs, but at least that will cost less. It also means we can help other family members a bit more. We still can't contact them directly using mobile/cell phones or the internet, so the info is being passed on to us by my wife's friend from Iloilo. We are so grateful. It is usually about a 4 hour, or more, trip from Iloilo to Casanayan.

We have also found out that the roads between Cassanayan to Roxas City (some 60 kilometres away) has not been cleared yet, so there is no transport to and from Roxas. Going to Iloilo is a long way (137 kilometres) to go to get food and water. But at least they can do that.

I have a brother-in-law who lives about half way between Casanayan and Iloilo, so hopefully we will soon hear how he and his family are. The rest of my wife's siblings all live in Casanayan.

Sadly, we are still waiting for news from Binon-An, and that's still got us worried.

New update.

Our house (where my mother-in-law and our 2 unofficially adopted daughters live) - minor damage - kitchen & bathroom slightly damaged - roof still there - Phew!
Brother-in-law #1 - House suffered some damage, but not destroyed - repairable
Brother-in-law #2 - House destroyed/gone
Brother-in-law #3 - House destroyed/gone
Sister-in-law - House destroyed/gone
3 Aunt's houses destroyed/gone
1 Aunt's house minor damage
2 Aunt's houses no damage
Several cousins houses also destroyed/gone

No relatives lives lost there! The wife and I are crying tears of joy with this news.

Still no news on family at Binon-An.

darn Mark...

10,000 perished I'd heard last night. This is terrible, the people of the 'pinas certainly don't deserve this.

I'm not religious so I'm not going to be a hippocrate and say I'm praying for you, however you, your wife, your extended family and all the people of the philippines are in my thoughts.

Wow. Winds gusting up to 380km/h. I'm not far from a cyclone prone area and have seen a few in my days. My mind can't comprehend winds of that magnitude.

By all reports up to now, there have been no deaths reported in Casanayan. Lot's of destruction of homes though, all Nipa huts (thatch houses) are gone.
Lots of photos are emerging from Casanayan now and the place is a mess. Trees, power poles and lines, debris, and roofs litter the streets, while many city blocks, that once had homes in them, are just debris fields now. It is a heartbreaking scene, as we know many of these people, they are friends of Lorna's family since she was a child.
The "compound" (almost an entire city block) where our house is, and two other concrete houses are, is fine, with the roofs still on top! Of course the Nipa huts that were in the compound are gone.

http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv58/Markoz958/998805_567637893306452_1997986302_n_zpsecc9aad5.jpg
The top, front of the roof of our house can be seen in the red circle. The photo was taken from 1 block south at what is called "The Welcome Sign", which is there to greet people as they enter the town.

Our car (which we bought last year) survived with little or no damage, so we have been told. We bought the car in great condition and have done everything to keep it that way, so we were glad to hear that it is okay! The car is called an "Owner", built in 2001. It's design is based on the US Army WWII Jeeps (thousands were left behind in the Philippines at the end of WWII)! It's body is made of stainless steel (don't ask why, it just is), it has a Toyota 1.3 Litre 4K engine and mag wheels! Ever since I first saw one in Manila, I wanted to buy one. It took a while, but I finally got one. I felt like sharing a couple of pics of it below (I guess it's because I'm so happy today).

http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv58/Markoz958/jeep08_zps556d6136.jpg
This is the "Owner" parked beside the house.

http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv58/Markoz958/jeep09_zpsc0e90aca.jpg
This is the "Owner" parked across the road from the house.

Glad your family members are ok there. This car is something... Looks amazing!

It turns out that the damage to the kitchen and bathroom on the house are a little bit worse than we were originally told.

But looking at photographs of other concrete houses in the village, ours still faired very well!

Just an update.

Food and water are now the main problems over there in Casanayan. Most roads are now open, power is still down, but the Cellular network is up and running, but not at full capacity yet.

We have an aunt (my mother-in-laws sister) missing in Leyte (midway between Tacloban and Ormoc City), and after a week, we are very worried about her safety.

In Binon-An, we are also still waiting on news of aunts/uncles/cousins who live there. My mother-in-law was supposed to be going to go and find out, but due to the shortage of food in Casanayan (she doesn't want to go empty handed), she hasn't gone. It could be that she dreads finding out that some may not survived, so either way I don't blame her. :(

The clean up has begun, but like always, the government is taking too long. Most support is coming from foreign aid.

WOW MAN! Glad everybody ok! Where i live, we dont know what typhoon or hurricane is. All seasons changing smooth here. We finnaly got our first snow today. Almost half month late! Those typhoons so evil, i dont know how you live there!!! :o

I wish good luck to you and your family! Repairing houses will require some effort. Be strong guys!

P.S. Hip jeep BTW  :D

Finally! We have the news that been waiting for for nearly two weeks! All of my wife's relatives have survived Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. Most have lost their homes and possessions, but they are all alive. All of the relatives were in the centre of the path of the storm, so the destruction is and vast and very bad. All are now doing the things needed to get on with their lives. It will be a long and hard road to recovery, but they will get there in the end, as they always do.

All of the Filipinos I know are grateful for all the help that is being sent there from the rest of the world. My thanks go out to those who have helped them too, as it will, in some way, shape, or form, find its way to my wife's family too.

Thank you all for you support.

@windplayer. Sorry if I confused you, but my wife, myself, and our children all live in Australia, not the Philippines. My wife, however, is Filipino and she is the only one from her family who does not live over there.

Great news that your family survived the storm . I pray they will get the help they need in the coming days.
Ron

We have to buy a generator now as they are not expected to get the power back on until January/February. :(

After that, it's the hard task of rebuilding and repairing homes. The next few months are going to be FUN, FUN, FUN.                        NOT!