Dangerous Habagat !

Habagat is the usually gently blowing south-west monsoon. This wind is blowing from June through October. 

Here in Camiguin we like the Habagat season. There is sunny weather and a breeze from the sea makes life really comfortable. The beach is growing every day to achieve a width of up to 100 meters of brown to black sand.

This year is very different!
None of the tropical cyclones has yet hit the Philippines. All tropical storms and typhoons did turn northwards before arriving in the Philippines. This is the good side. The bad side is  the enhancement of the Habagat by this low pressure areas. The cyclones have a suction effect on the Habagat and amplify it.

Habagat is moving around millions of tons of sand. Unfortunately this year the sand is moved in the wrong directions. One of the victims are our nearest neighbors, the Camiguin Action Geckos .

Instead of sharing our wide beach, they fight against the sea eating up all their sandy beach. About a month ago, a bay started to be dug on their western side. Every day, especially at high tide and during strong Habagat, they lost some meters of their beach.

Now typhoon Jelawat / Lawin amplifies the south-west monsoon. We encounter all day waves of 3 meters and more.

It becomes dramatic!
The last bastion, a stone wall of big rocks and filled cement tubes has been swept away last night. Even very heavy rocks rolled over 40 meters on the beach. and tonight at 2:52 a.m. we expect a 1.67m tide. 

See yourself:

Yellow is the normal winter shoreline (Amihan)
Green is the usual summer shoreline (normal Habagat) 
Red is this year’s summer shoreline (very strong Habagat) 

The unusual bay that menaces the Camiguin Action Geckos. Normal summer coastline is from the cape in the background to the shoreline in the foreground.

Objects with a weight of several tons are swept away.

Even with these boulder stones the sea will play bowling tonight.

Last hope, larger stones.

We also will be at the beach tonight. On our side the sea is still at least 20 meters away. But  what we had seen during the last weeks, doesn’t let us sleep quietly.