The typhoon lost its intensity as it circled around Manila and headed towards the South China Sea.
Manila:
The strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has destroyed tens of thousands of homes and killed at least 20 people, officials said on Monday, as communications with the worst-affected areas remained cut.
Catanduanes Island and the neighboring province of Albay, on the most populous island of Luzon, were the hardest hit by Typhoon Goni, which posted maximum sustained wind speeds of 225 kilometers (140 miles) per hour when ‘it crashed on the east coast on Sunday.
Fierce winds and torrential rains knocked down power lines, triggered flooding and triggered landslides that engulfed homes as Goni swept through southern Luzon.
It lost intensity as it skirted the sprawling capital of Manila and made its way towards the South China Sea.
“We are horrified by the devastation caused by this typhoon in many areas, including the island of Catanduanes and Albay,” Philippine Red Cross chief Richard Gordon said in a statement.
“Up to 90 percent of homes have been severely damaged or destroyed in some areas. This typhoon has destroyed people’s lives and livelihoods in addition to the relentless physical, emotional and economic toll of Covid-19.”
Hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes before the typhoon and many remain in evacuation centers as authorities scramble to restore electricity and telecommunications services to the hardest hit areas.
Fourteen deaths have been recorded in Albay province, but provincial disaster chief Cedric Daep said without preventive evacuations “thousands would have died”.
“We have significant damage to infrastructure and housing,” Daep said.
“A lot of people are hungry. They had already suffered from Covid due to job loss and dislocation. Some don’t even have cooking utensils.”
‘Seriously affected’
Seven of the victims were in a town that was struck by a volcanic ash landslide from the nearby active Mayon volcano.
The mayor of Guinobatan told local media that around 147 houses had been flooded and some were now unlivable.
Goni was classified as a “super typhoon” when it made landfall in Catanduanes where at least six people died and authorities believe most houses and infrastructure were damaged or destroyed.
“We are severely affected here,” provincial governor Joseph Cua said at a government conference.
Most of the island’s power lines were damaged by the typhoon, and reports from cities were only creeping in, suggesting the toll could increase.
“We hope that help will arrive soon. We are short of funds,” Cua told CNN Philippines.
In areas along the road to Goni, more than 20,000 houses were destroyed and about 58,000 partially damaged, Civil Defense said in a statement. Farmland was also damaged.
Clean-up efforts were underway, with residents removing soggy furniture and other belongings from their homes as they cleared away mud and debris after heavy rains flooded towns.
“The flood took only a few minutes to mount – not hours, but minutes,” Alona Espino from the city of Batangas, south of Manila, told AFP.
“We have never experienced such a rapid flood.”
The Philippines is struck by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, which typically destroy crops, homes and infrastructure, keeping millions of people in permanent poverty.
Its deadliest on record was Super Typhoon Haiyan, which unleashed giant waves in the central city of Tacloban and left more than 7,300 dead or missing in 2013.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
