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Death toll from Super Typhoon Rai soars to 375 in Philippines

Renee Duff & Robert Richards - Accuweather — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 01:46:05 +0000

Dec. 20 (UPI) — Horrors continued to emerge over the weekend as the scope of the utter destruction left behind by Super Typhoon Rai in the Philippines came clearly into view.

The fierce storm, described as “one of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the southern Philippines” by the chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, has left hundreds of people dead and has completely cut off some communities from the outside world.

As of Monday, the death toll in the Philippines had risen to at least 375 people, with another 56 people missing and over 500 injured, according to The Washington Post.

Government officials were having difficultly assessing the full scope of the damage due to the extensive loss of telecommunications in the affected provinces, Al Jazeera reported. Flooded roadways and extensive debris are adding more challenges to rescuers attempting to reach the hardest-hit areas.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) called Rai “a terrible surprise for the festive season” as it severely flooded cities and towns, tore homes and businesses to shreds and littered the ground with downed power lines, snapped trees and other debris.

“The full picture is only just starting to emerge, but it is clear there is widespread devastation. It is heartbreaking to see homes, Red Cross offices and even a hospital ripped apart. We hold grave fears for people in areas, including Siargao and other islands that still have no communication and contact with the outside world,” Alberto Bocanegra, IFRC Head of the Philippine Country Office, said in a statement.

The Philippine Coast Guard released aerial pictures on Friday of homes that were leveled and left unrecognizable by the fury of Rai.

Siargao Island sustained significant damage as the typhoon first roared ashore Thursday afternoon, local time, with the equivalent strength of a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (maximum sustained winds of at least 156 mph) in the Atlantic or East Pacific basins.

In total, Rai made eight landfalls as it weaved through the various islands that make up the south-central Philippines, according to the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The islands of Mindanao and Nonoc also sustained significant devastation.

Source: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2021/12/20/philippines-Super-Typhoon-Rai-Philippines-deaths/4841640034711/

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Philippines Evacuates Nearly 1 Million As Typhoon Goni Nears

AFP News via International Business Times — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 13:51:16 +0000

Nearly a million people in the Philippines were evacuated from their homes Saturday as the most powerful typhoon of the year so far barrelled towards the country, with authorities warning of “destructive” winds and flooding.

Typhoon Goni is expected to slam into Catanduanes Island Sunday morning with wind speeds of up to 205 kilometres per hour (127 miles per hour) before crossing the main island of Luzon, the state weather forecaster said.

A man fishes in a swollen river caused by heavy rains north of Manila, ahead of Typhoon Goni’s landfall in the Philippines Photo: AFP / Villamor Visaya

It comes a week after Typhoon Molave hit the same region of the natural disaster-prone archipelago, killing 22 people and flooding low-lying villages and farmland, before crossing the South China Sea to Vietnam.

“It looks like we will have really strong winds, increasing the chances of widespread flooding and landslides,” Mark Timbal, spokesman for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, told local broadcaster ABS-CBN.

“Storm surges are imminent on our east coast. We are monitoring Mayon and Taal volcanoes for possible volcanic mudflows.”

Coastguard workers evacuate residents from the coastal villages of Buhi town, Camarines Sur province, south of Manila Photo: Philippine Coast Guard / -)

Civil Defense chief Ricardo Jalad said “almost a million” people had left their homes in the Bicol region, which includes the southern part of Luzon and Catanduanes.

Authorities spent Saturday marshaling rescue vehicles, emergency response teams, and relief goods ahead of the typhoon.

Residents walk past parked wooden boats along a boulevard in Legazpi Photo: AFP / Charism SAYAT)

“Violent winds and intense rainfall” are expected that could trigger floods and landslides in an area of more than 20 million people, the weather service said.

There was a “high risk” of storm surges of more than three metres (10 feet) high along parts of the coast, it added.

(Photo: AFP / Gal ROMA)

Schools which have been empty since the start of the coronavirus pandemic are being used as emergency shelters as well as government-run evacuation centres and gymnasiums.

“Evacuating people is more difficult at this time because of Covid-19,” Bicol regional civil defence spokesman Alexis Naz told AFP.

Mary Ann Echague, 23, and her family fled their home in the coastal city of Legazpi in Bicol to an inland primary school where they were sheltering in a classroom with several other families.

“We fear the wrath of the typhoon,” said Echague, who was with her two children, parents and siblings. They had carried with them a portable stove, tinned meat, instant noodles, coffee, bread, blankets and pillows.

“Each time we’re hit by a typhoon our house gets damaged, since it’s made of wood and galvanised iron roofing,” she said.

“We have always managed. We find a way to get by.”

Hundreds of people have been left stranded after the coastguard ordered ferries and fishing boats into port in expectation of rough seas throwing up 15-metre waves.

Goni is expected to “weaken considerably” as it crosses Luzon and enters the South China Sea Monday morning, the state forecaster said.

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year, which typically wipe out harvests, homes and infrastructure, keeping millions of people perennially poor.

Its deadliest on record was Super Typhoon Haiyan, which unleashed giant waves on the central city of Tacloban and left more than 7,300 people dead or missing in 2013.

Source: https://www.ibtimes.com/philippines-evacuates-nearly-1-million-typhoon-goni-nears-3073806

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Super Typhoon Goni explodes into 2020’s strongest storm on Earth, moves toward Philippines

Jason Samenow — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 12:55:38 +0000

In just a day’s time, Super Typhoon Goni transformed from an ordinary Pacific cyclone into the year’s most intense storm on the planet. The typhoon is on a beeline for the Philippines, where it is expected to roar ashore Sunday.

A satellite view of Super Typhoon Goni in the western Pacific Ocean on Friday evening local time. (NOAA)

Goni’s explosive intensification occurred over the warm waters in the western Pacific Ocean. Its peak winds catapulted from just shy of 100 mph to nearly 180 mph between Thursday and Friday night local time.
Once its peak winds surpassed 150 mph, it qualified as a “super typhoon,” which is equivalent to a strong Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic. But it grew even more intense, comparable to a strong Category 5.

Its leap in strength occurred over waters about 2 to 3 degrees (1 to 1.5 Celsius) warmer than normal. Such rapid intensification is made more likely by human-caused climate change, which has raised ocean temperatures globally.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Pearl Harbor described Goni as “a compact but very powerful system.” On weather satellite, it displayed a sharply defined eye and near-perfect symmetry, characteristic of the most intense tropical cyclones.

Goni is predicted to track westward and make landfall in central Luzon, northeast of Manila, around 8 p.m. local time Sunday, weakening some before landfall.

In the short term, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects Goni to undergo an eyewall replacement cycle in which the most intense thunderstorms surrounding its center reorganize. Although this process usually decreases a storm’s peak winds, it often results in a larger storm.

Track forecast for Super Typhoon Goni. (Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicts that Goni will make landfall in Luzon with peak winds of more than 140 mph, which is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane.

Forecasters with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), referring to this storm as Typhoon Rolly (the Philippines has a separate naming system for storms in its vicinity), have issued tropical cyclone warnings as the storm approaches. They are calling for “heavy to intense rains” starting as soon as Saturday evening, which might trigger flooding and landslides. PAGASA is also predicting damaging winds and a storm surge as high as 6½ to 8 feet (2 to 2.5 meters).

The Inquirer, an English-language newspaper in the Philippines, reported that tens of thousands of people are expected to shelter in government evacuation centers and that the country faced a “double whammy” from the storm and the novel coronavirus. Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, encouraged wearing face masks and social distancing and said evacuation sites should not be filled to capacity, the newspaper reported.

Goni is predicted to weaken as it passes over Luzon before emerging over the South China Sea. Additional weakening is forecast as it heads west toward Vietnam, as a result of hostile high-altitude winds and dry air. Landfall in Vietnam as a tropical storm is forecast for around next Wednesday.

While the Philippines have been impacted by several tropical cyclones in 2020, overall storm activity in the western Pacific has been below normal. Storms have generated less than half the energy of an average season, according to Colorado State University. This is the opposite of the tropical Atlantic, which has seen record-setting storm activity.

While the Atlantic has raged with storminess, the Pacific has been strangely quiet

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/super-typhoon-goni-explodes-into-2020-e2-80-99s-strongest-storm-on-earth-moves-toward-philippines/ar-BB1ay6sr

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Death Toll Rises In Wake of Philippines Typhoon: At Least 28 Dead

Vanessa Romo — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 10:11:26 +0000

Residents outside their home, damaged by Typhoon Phanfone at Concepcion town, Iloilo province, central Philippines on Friday. – Leo Solinap/AP

Typhoon Phanfone, which swept through the central Philippines on Christmas Eve, has killed at least 28 people, leaving large areas in shambles, with thousands losing their homes and livelihoods.

The typhoon, known locally as Ursula, made landfall in the islands on Dec. 24, pounding remote villages and popular tourist destinations.

As of Friday morning, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 28 people were confirmed dead and another 12 people were still missing. Two people were injured and thousands have been displaced or left homeless.

“The likelihood is present that the casualty count will still increase. We’re hoping against it,” Mark Timbal, an agency spokesman said, according to The Manila Times.

For more than 24 hours, the strong winds, which topped nearly 120 miles per hour, thrashed the Visayas region of the country’s mid-section, as well as the southern part of the island of Luzon.

The relentless pummeling toppled trees, tore the roofs off of houses, downed electrical poles and telephone lines, and knocked out power in entire provinces, while some towns were inundated by heavy rains.

Most deaths occurred in Iloilo and Capiz provinces. The majority were due to drowning, falling trees and electrocution, The Associated Press reported.

The extent of the devastation has become clearer only in the days since the typhoon hit. However, it has been difficult to reach some of the worst-hit areas as roads remain blocked.

People are desperate for food, blankets, and toiletries, Veronica Ramirez, vice mayor of Guiuan, told CBS News. Meanwhile, thousands remain in evacuation shelters.

Several areas have been placed under a “state of calamity,” including the provinces of Eastern Samar and Leyte, Biliran Islands and Tacloban City.

“In Tacloban, a low-lying city of more than 220,000 people, a large fire broke out as the winds rose but the city escaped the worst of the damage,” the BBC reported.

The Governor of Occidental Mindoro, Eduardo Gadiano, said the province’s emergency fund was already nearly wiped out assisting victims of Typhoon Tisoy, which struck the province before Christmas, according to The Manila Times.

Nearly 60,000 people had been evacuated in advance of the typhoon, which threw much of the mostly Catholic country into a panic ahead of Christmas. About 15,000 others were stranded at seaports and airports at the peak of holiday travel.

Phanfone followed a similar path as super typhoon Haiyan, which struck the same areas in 2013. That storm left more than 7,000 people dead or missing.

Officials said the country’s Department of Energy aims to restore power in typhoon-hit areas before the end of December. But tens of thousands face a bleak and dark start of the new year.

Thousands of people affected by the storm remain in temporary evacuation shelters, authorities said Friday.

On Thursday, Phanfone headed out towards the South China Sea.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/27/791858325/death-toll-rises-in-wake-of-philippines-typhoon-at-least-28-dead

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Typhoon Hagibis: Tokyo braced for battering as ‘worst storm in 60 years’ roars in

Gavin Blair in Tokyo and Jamie Doward — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 23:47:27 +0000

The threat of widespread flooding and landslides compounded by an earthquake in nearby Chiba prefecture.

Damaged caused by typhoon Hagibis in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo. Photograph: Jiji Press/EPA

Evacuation orders were issued to more than 800,000 households in Tokyo on Saturday as super-typhoon Hagibis threatened power cuts and widespread flooding.

Storm surges and high waves have raised sea levels by more than a meter along some stretches of the coast, and waters in Tokyo Bay are up by 50cm, increasing the danger of severe flooding in the city center.

On Saturday the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a level-five warning, its highest level, and urged more than 45 million residents of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Gunma, Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures to find a secure building or move to higher floors.

The warning came as it was reported that nine people were missing after a landslide in Gunma and flooding in Shizuoka. More than 80 have been reported injured.

Authorities have said they are planning to release water from the Shiroyama dam, 50km west of Tokyo, to reduce the risk of it bursting. They have urged residents of six nearby towns to protect themselves as discharging water into an area already experiencing torrential rain is expected to cause severe flooding. About 17,000 military personnel have been placed on standby for rescue operations.

The giant storm, which is 1,400km across and capable of producing 200km-an-hour gusts of wind, is being compared to 1958’s typhoon Ida, which wrought destruction across the Greater Tokyo area and eastern Shizuoka prefecture, killing 1,200 people.

However, the death toll is unlikely to be anywhere near as high this time thanks to Japan’s stringent building safety standards and comprehensive disaster warning systems.

Emergency alerts accompanied by loud chimes are being sent directly to tens of millions of smartphone users in the affected areas.

By Saturday morning roofs had been ripped off houses in Chiba prefecture. This area, immediately east and south of Tokyo, is still recovering from last month’s typhoon Faxai, which killed three people, injured more than 40, and left hundreds of thousands of homes without power.

On Saturday a 50-year-old man was killed in Chiba when his car was flipped over by the storm, while another person died after being washed away in a car, public broadcaster NHK said.

“When the winds suddenly hit, they blew the roof off my house,” a resident told NHK. “The noise was awful. One of my three children was injured and is now in a hospital.”

Adding to the danger of landslides, an earthquake measuring four in Chiba on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, whose highest grading is seven, hit the Pacific Ocean at 6:22 pm local time on Saturday.

Up to 60cm of rain is expected to fall in some areas by Sunday morning. Tokyo Disney Resort shut down on Saturday for the first time since the earthquake and resulting deadly tsunami in 2011 that killed nearly 20,000 people, while all bullet trains and most flights in and out of the greater Tokyo area and its surrounding prefectures were canceled.

The Tokyo metropolitan government has opened an evacuation center in Tokyo’s Ueno district for foreign tourists stranded by the shutdown. Organizers canceled Saturday’s qualifying session for the Suzuka grand prix, although the race is expected to take place on Sunday afternoon.

The England v France World Cup Rugby game, due to having been played in Yokohama on 12 October, was canceled the previous day. A decision on Sunday’s match between Japan and Scotland was due following an inspection scheduled late on Saturday night.

Scotland, who will be eliminated from the World Cup if the match is canceled, want the game to be switched to Monday.

“Right from the get-go, we said we would play any place, anywhere, behind closed doors, in full stadiums,” said Scottish Rugby’s chief executive, Mark Dodson.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/12/japan-typhoon-hagibis-tokyo-earthquake-rugby-flood-rain

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Millions told to evacuate as Typhoon Hagibis hits east coast of Japan | ABC News

ABC News — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 07:22:06 +0000

The post Millions told to evacuate as Typhoon Hagibis hits east coast of Japan | ABC News first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.