[The Philippines , which is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms a year, has in recent years become more serious about preparations to reduce deaths. Public service announcements are frequent, as are warnings by the president and high-ranking officials that are regularly carried on radio and TV and social networking sites.]
By Associated Press, 9:14 AM
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| View Photo Gallery — Super Typhoon Haiyan targets the Philippines: One of the most powerful storms witnessed anywhere in modern times headed toward the nation of islands. Widespread destruction seems inevitable in the region, including a province devastated by an earthquake last month. |
Huge
Typhoon Haiyan raced across a string of islands from east to west — Samar , Leyte , Cebu and Panay — and
lashed beach communities with over 200 kilometer (124 mile) per hour winds.
Nearly 750,000 people were forced to flee their homes.
Due
to cut-off communications, it was impossible to know the full extent of casualties
and damage. At least two people were electrocuted in storm-related accidents,
one person was killed by a fallen tree and another was struck by lightning,
official reports said.
Weather
officials said Haiyan had sustained winds of 235 kph (147 mph) with gusts of
275 kph (170 mph) when it made landfall. That makes it the world’s strongest
typhoon this year, said Aldczar Aurelio of the government’s weather bureau.
The
dense clouds and heavy rains made the day seem almost as dark as night, he
said.
“When
you’re faced with such a scenario, you can only pray, and pray and pray,”
Mercado told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that mayors in the
province had not called in to report any major damage.
“I
hope that means they were spared and not the other way around,” he said. “My
worst fear is there will be massive loss of lives and property.”
Eduardo
del Rosario, head of the disaster response agency, said a powerful typhoon that
also hit the central Philippines in 1990 killed 508 people and left 246
missing, but this time authorities had ordered pre-emptive evacuation and other
measures to minimize casualties.
He
said the speed at which the typhoon sliced through the central islands — 40 kph
(25 mph) — helped prevent its 600-kilometer (375-mile) band of rain clouds from
dumping enough of their load to overflow waterways. Flooding from heavy rains
is often the main cause of deaths from typhoons.
“It
has helped that the typhoon blew very fast in terms of preventing lots of
casualties,” regional military commander Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda said. He said
the massive evacuation of villagers before the storm also saved many lives.
The Philippines , which is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms a year, has
in recent years become more serious about preparations to reduce deaths. Public
service announcements are frequent, as are warnings by the president and high-ranking
officials that are regularly carried on radio and TV and social networking
sites.
Provincial
governors and mayors have taken a hands-on approach during crises, supervising
evacuations, inspecting shelters and efforts to stockpile food and relief supplies.
President
Benigno Aquino III assured the public of war-like preparations, with three
C-130 air force cargo planes and 32 military helicopters and planes on standby,
along with 20 navy ships.
Among
the evacuees were thousands of residents of Bohol who had
been camped in tents and other makeshift shelters since a magnitude-7.2
earthquake hit the island province last month.
From
Samar , the typhoon battered Leyte , then
the northern part of Cebu and nearby islands before lashing Panay —
islands with some of the best beach resorts in the Philippines .
As
of 8 p.m. , the typhoon was north of Palawan
province, 320 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Manila , and had weakened a bit with sustained winds of 215 kph
(134 mph).
Forecasters
said the storm was expected to move out of the country and into the South China Sea
on Saturday morning, where it was likely to pick up renewed strength on its way
toward Vietnam .
Dozens
of flights in the central and southern Philippines were canceled. A storm surge estimated at 5 meters (15
feet) damaged a seaside airport in Leyte ’s Tacloban city. Airport workers moved to the tower and
were safe but no other details had been reported because communications were
cut by the typhoon, aviation official John Andrews said.
“They’ve
been incommunicado. The last message we got from them was that the airport was
ruined,” Andrews said.
Andrews
said the typhoon also damaged the airport in Kalibo town in Aklan.
The
U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center
That
is the strongest a tropical cyclone has ever been when it made landfall
anywhere on Earth, beating out Hurricane Camille, which had wind speeds of 305
kph (190 mph) at landfall in the southeast United States 1969, said Jeff
Masters, a former hurricane meteorologist who is meteorology director at the
private company Weather Underground.
There
have been three instances of storms with higher winds, but all were at sea when
the winds were measured and they were more than 50 years ago when measurement
accuracy was an issue, Masters said. He said the record was Super Typhoon Nancy
in 1961.
“195
mph winds, there aren’t too many buildings constructed that can withstand that
kind of wind,” Masters told The Associated Press.
