Stepping out of my home this morning, it was clear this was no normal day.
The streets in my south-eastern suburb of the Venezuelan capital Caracas are quiet, besides the queues outside petrol stations, supermarkets and pharmacies.
Overnight the city’s darkness was punctured by flashes of orange and the roar of aircraft echoing around the valley, as US President Donald Trump announced a “large-scale” strike against Venezuela and captured the country’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
It was almost 2am when I woke to a huge bang. Everything was vibrating, my heart was pumping and I jumped to the window. I could see flames in the middle of the runway at a military airbase next to my home, but couldn’t see anyone running.
Still hearing explosions, this time distant ones, my phone soon lit up as people began to WhatsApp and call about what was going on.
The drama of the night stood in contrast to the calm, beautiful morning as the city saw a stunning sunrise on Saturday.
But with daybreak has come a great sense of uncertainty here over what might happen next.
In a sense, today feels like the day former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez died in 2013, with people struggling to comprehend what has happened.
With no sign of public transport running in my area, Baruta Municipality, a worker at the local petrol station tells me two of his colleagues couldn’t travel to work.
A pharmacy is serving a queue of customers with its door shut, perhaps to help manage supplies.
Some people are staying in their houses, trying to update relatives outside country following huge migration from Venezuela in recent times.
Others in another part of the city told me they’ve experienced power cuts and been without electricity since the overnight explosions, meaning they have little information.
For those with power, the main TV channel is showing supporters of the government insisting President Maduro was kidnapped and that they are expecting him to be freed.
Anyone who dissents from this view may not be able to speak, as the law here condemns to 30 years of prison anyone who supports, calls for or finances any kind of military aggression from another state.
Maduro has declared a “state of external commotion”, a national emergency, but we don’t currently know the details of what that could bring.
It might mean the suspension of guarantees or free movement; something similar happened during the Caracazo riots in the 1980s.
For now, the authorities haven’t told us we can’t leave our homes and it’s a long day ahead, hour by hour, for the Venezuelan people.
The people here have grown used to having to queue for things and to internal political strife over the years, and the government here has been prepared for a potential US strike for weeks.
Even after the incidents in the Caribbean in recent weeks, Maduro has suddenly appeared at various public activities – I went to see him and you could easily walk very close to the stage where he spoke.
He has also appeared at demonstrations, and spent Christmas Day visiting some slums and dancing with people in the streets.
That has made the last few weeks feel quite normal in a way.
What happened last night, though, is all new for the Venezuelan people.
As told to Ewan Somerville
