[ad_1]
MANILA – A devastatingly powerful typhoon struck the main island of Luzon overnight, dumping record levels of rain that triggered massive flooding and paralyzed almost the entire Manila metropolitan area on Thursday (November 12).
Dramatic rescues were carried out in several cities in the capital region, with tens of thousands of people paddling out of the floodwaters in rubber boats, small motorized boats, canoes and even jet skis.
In the city of Marikina and nearby Rizal province, home to nearly three million, residents fled to the upper floors of their homes or climbed onto rooftops as floodwaters rose rapidly after a 78 km river overflowed.
“We are overwhelmed with the scope, the magnitude of the floods that we are experiencing now … We are preparing for the worst case,” Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro told radio station DZBB.
Mr. Teodoro said that he had received reports that several of those who had been on his rooftops since early Thursday morning were already suffering from hypothermia. “Many are terrified,” he said.
He pleaded with the civil defense forces to send helicopters to help with the rescue. Up to 40,000 houses were underwater, and his city only had 50 rubber boats to ship, he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered government agencies to expedite aid to those affected by Typhoon Vamco.
“Rest assured that the government will leave no one behind,” Duterte said in a national address, promising shelter, relief items, financial aid and post-disaster counseling.
Typhoon Vamco, known locally as Ulises, made landfall around 10:30 p.m. in the city of Patnanungan in Quezon province, 130 kilometers east of the capital Manila, with winds of up to 150 kilometers per hour and maximum gusts of 205 kilometers per hour.
The typhoon was not considered particularly alarming, having been classified as a tropical storm for most of its journey across the Pacific.
But it quickly gained traction as it approached the eastern coast of Luzon, then rolled just 60 kilometers north of Manila on its way to the South China Sea.
From late Wednesday to noon Thursday, hurricane-force winds and a heavy downpour hit Metro Manila.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, large swaths of the metropolis, home to some 13 million, were waist-deep in flooding. Trees, electric poles and a large amount of debris were strewn across the roads. A photo posted on Twitter showed the steel roof of a house dangling precariously from a pile of electrical cables.
Key roads were impassable and about four million people suffered a prolonged blackout.
Teodoro, the mayor, said Vamco caught Marikina by surprise, who had always been prone to flooding due to her proximity to a river named after the city.
But a senior disaster response official insisted the government “was not surprised.” He said those caught in the typhoon’s fury may have been too complacent and relying more on their instincts than heeding the government’s warnings.
Duterte himself objected to critics who accused him of sleeping at work, as the hashtag #NasaanAngPangulo (Where is the president?) Became a trend again.
“People say I’m not doing anything, I’m just sleeping. No one here has slept,” he said.
Vamco came in the immediate aftermath of Typhoon Goni, which was classified as one of the strongest typhoons to hit the Philippines in years, with winds exceeding 300 km / h.
Goni was expected to devastate Metro Manila and the regions south of it. It left at least 26 dead and about a million displaced. But at the end of the day, it largely bypassed Metro Manila, with no deaths reported there.
Vamco now conjures up memories of Typhoon Ketsana, which in 2009 killed 246 people, caused widespread flooding in Metro Manila, as it dumped a month of rain in 24 hours and overwhelmed rescue services.
Ketsana later became the center of marathon climate talks, with developing nations and environmental groups saying it was an example of the kind of climate disaster poor nations could face in a warmer world.
Outside of Metro Manila, Vamco traversed regions still reeling from Goni and six other cyclones that had traversed the Philippines one after another since Oct. 11. There were reports of landslides in mountain villages and storm surges hitting coastal towns.
At least two people died and another four were reported missing, reported the Civil Defense Office in the Bicol region. A separate report said a child in the town of Cainta, in Rizal, died after a tree fell on him.
The state meteorological agency predicted that two to three more typhoons will enter the Philippines in November and one to two in December.
The Philippines is the first major landmass off the Pacific cyclone belt. Therefore, it receives an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year.
Typhoon season generally begins in June and ends in November. But in recent years, the strongest typhoons have hit the country as the year draws to a close in November and December.
Typhoon Haiyan left more than 7,300 dead and missing after passing through the central Philippines in November 2013.
Singapore’s aid agency Mercy Relief on Wednesday launched a fundraising appeal for victims of recent storms and floods in Southeast Asia. The appeal runs until December 10.
Mercy Relief President Suhaimi Rafdi said in a statement: “Our highest priority is to provide emergency aid with food packages, clean water, hygiene kits, blankets and tarps to affected communities in Vietnam and the Philippines.
“The situation is expected to worsen in the coming weeks and our response team will work closely with our partners and local authorities to assess the situation.”
The public can make their donations through the following channels:
1. Donation by credit card through the Mercy Relief website
2. Crossed check made out to “Mercy Relief Limited” with “Southeast Asia Flood & Typhoon Relief 2020” and email address written on the back of the check, and mailed to Blk 160, Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, # 01- 1568, Singapore 310160
3. Transfer of funds to Mercy Relief DBS checking account 054-900741-2
4. Crowdfunding via give.sg for the campaign “Relief of floods and typhoons in Southeast Asia 2020”
[ad_2]
