Cape Town - What if they had left too late, or been caught in the waves and washed out to sea?
These were the thoughts that haunted South African mom Maureen Visser as she anxiously watched television footage of the destruction left by super typhoon Haiyan that tore through the Philippines over the weekend.
The last she had heard from her son Jaco, 26, who lives in the country with his wife, Ihvee and 11-month-old daughter, Ivory, was a rushed e-mail sent on Wednesday morning.
“We just made it to the car,” he wrote. “Typhoon hit the island and we are going to Mindanoa! Will let you know more later.”
But then silence as the days went by, and the death toll grew from hundreds to more than 10 000.
She barely slept, and every minute was spent in front of the television watching the news, or in front of her computer, scanning her e-mails for any word from her son.
“My husband and I sat silently watching the destruction on TV with tears running down our faces. We didn’t know if they made it to Mindanoa. Maybe the tornado had swept their car away – we just didn’t know.”
After numerous attempts to contact her family Visser reported them missing to the South African Embassy in the Philippines.
It was all she could do.
On Saturday, everything turned around. Instead of finding an empty inbox, she found an e-mail from her son.
“We are okay! We don’t know if we still have a house but will return when possible.”
It was a joyous moment after “four days of hell and praying”.
“I wish I could just hold them, and it’s Ivory’s first birthday on Friday.”
She said it was likely Jaco would find his house in ruins.
While Visser’s anxious wait has come to an end, a Cape Town husband is still living in a nightmare.
Johan Buxmann, who left his wife, Manilyn, and daughter, Chantelle, in the Philippines to work in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has not heard from his family since the typhoon hit.
The region where they live in Western Visayas was reportedly ravaged in the storm, with mudslides and floods flattening homes.
In the UAE, where he works as an air traffic controller, the Wellington man is feeling powerless.
“I would jump on a plane over there but what can that help if all transport and communications are so badly affected?”
The last time he spoke to his wife, he told her to board up the windows and stay inside. But he is concerned that while his family may have been able to weather the storm, they might not have had enough food.
“It’s so frustrating. My mind is racing… They have money above what most in the village have, but the question is: is there anything to buy?”
By Monday night, he still had not heard anything.
Another South African is counting himself lucky that he decided to set up with his family in Bagui in the northern mountainous region of the country.
Iain Thysse, who moved from Southbroom in KwaZulu-Natal in 2006, said they had experienced only mild wind and rain.
While the typhoon is the biggest the world has ever seen, his three daughters – aged six, nine and 16 – have been unaffected.
“They got a little worried when the high winds hit, but they have lived through countless typhoons, storms and earthquakes, so they shake it off quite quickly. One of the joys of living in the Philippines.”
But while their house has survived the storm untouched, the family have lost contact with many of their friends.
Thysse’s sister-in-law was in a small town in Leyte when the typhoon hit, and the family have not heard from her.
“My wife, Veronica, is naturally very distressed. It is a trying time, but Filipinos are a very tough and upbeat kind of people, so we live in the belief that everyone is fine until we find out (otherwise).”
The problem was that most of the phone lines and mobile networks were down. The only way to find out if someone was alive was to go to town.
“Some of my wife’s family have been trying to make their way there to find out, but again, with the infrastructure so heavily affected, just getting there is a huge issue.”
Thysse plans to travel to some of the worst-hit areas and offer any relief that he can