Typhoon Hagupit yesterday weakened to a tropical storm as it churned close to the Philippine capital after killing 27 people on the eastern island of Samar, where it flattened homes, toppled trees and cut power and communications.
Manila shut down as Hagupit, which means “lash” in Filipino, took aim at the tip of the main island Luzon, just south of the capital city of 12 million people.
“We now have a total of 27 dead, most of them in Borongan, Eastern Samar,” said Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon, adding that most of the dead had drowned in floodwaters.
Photo: AFP
He said about 2,500 houses were totally or partially destroyed in Borongan, a town of 64,000 people.
Despite the rising death toll, there was relief that Hagupit had not brought destruction on the scale of Typhoon Haiyan, which last year killed thousands of people in the central Philippines.
Hagupit roared in from the Pacific as a Category 3 typhoon on Saturday night, churning across Samar and on to the smaller island of Masbate. Its effects were felt across the central Philippines, including Leyte island and southern Luzon.
“Our kitchen was wrecked. Around us, our neighbors’ homes were flattened like folded paper,” Arnalyn Bula, a 27-year-old bank employee, said from Dolores town in Eastern Samar, where Hagupit first made landfall.
Howling winds pounded the walls of her aunt’s home where her family sought shelter, she said.
Learning lessons from Haiyan, which left more than 7,000 dead or missing, the authorities launched a massive evacuation operation ahead of the storm, emptying whole towns and villages in coastal and landslide prone areas.
“We saw that with preparation and being alert we prevented tragedy and harm; we took our countrymen away from harm,” Philippine Secretary of the Interior Manuel Roxas told a televised government disaster meeting in Samar. “It is sad to hear news of deaths, but this is very low, way below what the potential was.”
Orla Fagan, spokeswoman and advocacy officer for the Asia-Pacific region at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs praised the authorities’ efforts to alert remote communities to the approaching danger.
“They’re on the game this time,” Fagan said. “They have taken all of the lessons from Haiyan.”
The Philippine weather bureau downgraded Hagupit to a tropical storm after it made three landfalls, now packing winds of 85kph with gusts of up to 100kph.
It was on course to hit Batangas province, about 90km south of Manila, last night and would later cross Manila Bay about 50km west of the city.
Financial markets, schools and most public offices in the capital were closed and people in low-lying areas and near waterways were moved to shelters. Soldiers and emergency workers were put on standby.
Despite the relief that Hagupit had not been as devastating as was feared, a major operation is necessary to clear debris and get supplies to thousands of people left homeless or without power.
“People are now returning to their homes and cleaning up,” Dolores resident Bula said. “But water is scarce, potable drinking water. We received relief goods which included rice, but no water.”
Dolores Mayor Emiliana Villacarillo said almost 100 percent of riceland in the town were submerged by floodwaters.
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