Midwest girl gets acquinted with Typhoon Warning Signals

Typhoon.

Just the word gives me a sense of uneasiness.

Having lived in the Midwestern U.S. my entire life, I have seen some serious storm damage. I have been witness to three floods; two of which I was old enough to prepare sandbags for, one of which destroyed my Aunt and Uncle's home, one passed us by with minimal water damage and one left our home in ruins. I have seen the aftermath up close and personal after a tornado left my Aunt and Uncle's home flattened and nearly killed both my uncle and my cousin. I have seen some nasty storms and what Mother Nature is capable of, yet I still love to stand outside and watch a storm go through.

Even still, the word typhoon scares the hell out of me. I suppose that is because in the Midwest there is clearly no ocean or extremely large body of water to fuel a storm and I have only ever seen tropical storms via television.

So, here is how it works...

Hong Kong has the following system of Typhoon Warning Signals:

Level 1 = Standby, there is a storm within 800 km(498 miles). More of a "watch" signal

Level 3 = Strong Winds 41-62 km/h(25-40 mph) and gusts exceeding 110 km/h(68 mph). It may or may not rain at this point, but most Kindergartens close for safety. I guess five-year-olds blow away easily in strong winds...

Level 8 = Seriously, if you skip all the numbers between 3 and 8, then we must be totally screwed at this level. This level is gale force winds, whatever the hell that means. It does mean that travel by ferry will cease and most businesses will close, preferably not in that order.

Level 9 = The gale force winds are increasing. Oh, crap!

Level 10 = Hurricane. Yikes! I hope this NEVER happens while we are here. Yes, I said yikes.

I never really gave a lot of thought to tropical storms before moving here, there wasn't really a lot of need. But, now I know. I just really hope not to know...