One of the most powerful typhoons in history is believed to have killed hundreds of people in the Philippines, with a UN disaster official yesterday comparing the destruction caused by towering waves and savage winds to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Thousands of soldiers and relief workers were battling to reach communities flattened Super Typhoon Haiyan, with some of the worst-hit areas yet to be contacted yesterday night.
The storm ripped into the eastern islands of Leyte and Samar on Friday morning with sustained winds of about 315kph, generating storm surges that saw 3m-high waves swamp coastal towns.
Photo: Reuters
“This is destruction on a massive scale. There are cars thrown like tumbleweed and the streets are strewn with debris,” said Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, the head of a UN disaster assessment coordination team.
“The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami,” he said, referring to the 2004 disaster that claimed about 220,000 lives.
Stampa made his comments after arriving in Tacloban, the destroyed capital of Leyte, which has a population of about 220,000 people.
More than 4 million people were affected across 36 provinces as Haiyan ripped across the Southeast Asian archipelago, the Philippine government said.
One area of concern yet to be reached was Guiuan, a fishing town of about 40,000 people on Samar that was the first to be hit after Haiyan swept in from the Pacific Ocean.
Philippines Red Cross chief Gwendolyn Pang also said relief workers were trying to get to Capiz province, about 200km west of Tacloban, on Panay Island.
She said most of Capiz’s infrastructure had been destroyed and many houses “flattened to the ground.”
Fifteen thousand soldiers were in the disaster zones to help with rescue efforts, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala said.
Zagala said helicopters were flying rescuers into priority areas, while infantry units deployed across the affected areas were also proceeding on foot or in military trucks.
Yesterday evening, Pope Francis tweeted his support for the typhoon victims, writing: “I ask all of you to join me in prayer for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda especially those in the beloved islands of the Philippines.”
Haiyan’s wind strength, which remained close to 300kph throughout Friday, made it the strongest typhoon in the world this year and one of the most intense ever recorded.
It exited into the South China Sea yesterday and tracked toward Vietnam, where more than 200,000 people crammed into storm shelters and soldiers helped reinforce vulnerable homes as authorities swung a mass evacuation plan into place. The storm was expected to make landfall in Vietnam early today.
The Red Cross has said Haiyan is likely to be a Category two or three typhoon and warned that about 6.5 million people in Vietnam could be affected.
Philippine authorities had expressed confidence on Friday that only a few people had been killed, citing two days of intense preparation efforts led by Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.
Nearly 800,000 people in danger zones had been moved to evacuation centers, while thousands of boats across the archipelago were ordered to remain secured at ports. Hundreds of flights were also canceled.
Aquino said yesterday night it appeared some communities had not heeded the warnings.
“I hesitate to say this, but it seems that Tacloban was not that prepared, shall we say, compared with other areas,” he told reporters in Manila.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
RSS