October 11, 2013: Tonight, as Chris wings his way back to the Philippines, Typhoon Nari (Filipino name Santi) is poised off the eastern seaboard. It will make landfall overnight, but the rain and wind gusts have already started here in Subic.

Preparations along the dock have been going on all day as yachties and crew have been busy securing lines, taking down biminis and tarps and generally battening down the hatches.

Nari approaches less than three weeks after Typhoon Odette wreaked havoc on Olongapo City and the surrounding area (see previous post). And Nari’s track is expected to come even closer, passing just north of us around five o’clock tomorrow morning.

I’m sure everyone is praying we don’t see a repeat performance of the flooding and landslides. The city is still reeling from Odette’s destructive power and the muddy mess she left in her wake. Here’s a small sampling of photographs showing the aftermath and the cleanup efforts just a couple of days later.

As if the storm itself and the cleanup weren’t bad enough, now the city is dealing with a new nightmare. Leptospirosis (a bacterial disease carried by rats) has been knocking Gapo residents flat in the last couple of days. At last report, there were 426 cases and ten deaths, overwhelming the city’s hospital and health clinics.

There may not be much sleeping around here tonight. But don’t worry too much about us. The yacht club where we are located is a safe haven. So much so, in fact, that they even moved all the boats from the neighbouring marina here to wait out Nari.

Some photos courtesy of Pat and Donna.