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Goni is the most powerful of the typhoons to hit the island nation so far this year. When it stopped over the island of Catanduanes southeast of the capital Manila, at 5 o’clock on Sunday morning local time, it measured wind speeds of more than 62 meters per second.
The super typhoon destroyed buildings, demolished power lines and flooded large areas. Earthquakes have also been triggered, burying several houses in the adjacent coastal city of Legazpi.
– The winds are violent. We can hear the trees being cut from side to side, says Francia Mae Borras who lives in the city.
Hundreds of thousands evacuated
So far, the death of ten people has been confirmed, one in Catanduanes and nine in the neighboring municipality of Albay, according to the local rescue service. About 400,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, says the civil defense.
In Albay, authorities report that the winds blew the roofs of two evacuation centers.
In the capital Manila, the airport was closed and residents of the low-lying areas were evacuated. Thousands of soldiers and police officers have been put on hold to help with evacuations and rescue efforts.
Many schools, which are empty due to the corona pandemic, have been converted into evacuation centers and COVID-19 patients treated in field hospitals have been evacuated.
Common typhoons
Goni arrives just over a week after Typhoon Molave hit the country. Molave left villages flooded and wrecked farmland dry: 22 people lost their lives.
The Philippines is affected by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year. One of the deadliest was Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, which is believed to have killed more than 7,000 people.
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