Typhoon Rips Philippines, Mass Evacuation Underway
A powerful typhoon roared into the eastern Philippines on Saturday, bringing lashing rain and strong winds that felled trees, ripped off tin roofs and toppled power lines in areas still bearing the scars of a super typhoon 13 months ago. About 1 million people had already fled to shelters by the time Typhoon Hagupit made landfall, in what a U.N. agency said was one of the world's biggest peacetime evacuations. As the storm barrelled in from the Pacific, power was cut across most of the central island of Samar and nearby Leyte province, including Tacloban City, considered ground zero of the devastating super typhoon Haiyan last year. "The wind is blowing so strongly, it's like it is whirling," Mabel Evardone, an official of the coastal town of Sulat in Eastern Samar, said on local radio.
Typhoon Batters Philippines, Thousand Flee to Manila
Rammasun hits eastern Rapu-Rapu island, heads towards Manila; Strongest storm after last year's Haiyan. Thousands evacuated from coastal villages. Thousands of people in the Philippines fled from their homes on Tuesday as the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year made landfall, toppling trees and cutting power as it made its way straight towards the capital, Manila. Parts of the Philippines are still recovering from Typhoon Haiyan, one of the biggest cyclones known to have made landfall anywhere, which killed more than 6,100 people last year, many in tsunami-like sea surges, and left millions homeless. Typhoon Rammasun, with gusts of up to 160 kph (99 mph) and sustained winds of 130 kph (81 mph) near its centre…
Typhoon-Devasted Philippine Villagers Get US Navy Aid
In the small village of Guiuan, located in Eastern Samar province, villagers lined up outside the gate of a runway awaiting food, water and medical supplies to be delivered by helicopters from the 'George Washington Strike Group' (GWSG) in support of Operation Damayan. Guiuan was heavily affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan, which clocked winds up to 195 miles per hour (mph) with gusts up to 235 mph. Houses that were once big and colorful, are now gray and battered. Uprooted palm trees are now makeshift shelters, and water faucets are now showers.
Cargo Ships Collide
A cargo vessel carrying about 17,000 bags of rice and 22 people sank off the Cebu Harbor on March 11 after colliding with another vessel, the Philippine Coast Guard said. The MV Premship-X sank near the North Entrance of the Cebu Harbor, or about 1.5 nautical miles of the PKS Shipyard in Tayud, Consolacion, after colliding with the MV Mijara II about 6:00 p.m., according to a report from the Coast Guard. All four officers and 18 crewmembers of the vessel were saved, with the MV Mijara II helping in the rescue operations. According to the Coast Guard, the incident occurred while the MV Premship-X was on its way to Catbalogan, Eastern Samar. The MV Mijara II, on the other hand, was on its way to the PKS shipyard for minor repairs. (Source: Inq7.net)
