Typhoon Hagupit hitting Tacloban and Manila in Philippines

Powerful typhoon slams into eastern Philippines


News from The Associated Press‎ - 4 hours ago

LEGAZPI, Philippines (AP) -- Typhoon Hagupit slammed into the central Philippines' east coast late Saturday, knocking out power and toppling ...







Philippines Typhoon Hagupit makes landfall as thousands flee

BBC News‎ - 4 hours ago

Typhoon Hagupit Makes Landfall in Philippines as 1 Million Flee

NBCNews.com‎ - 1 hour ago

Dec 6, 11:31 AM EST




Powerful typhoon slams into eastern Philippines

By TERESA CEROJANO and OLIVER TEVES
Associated Press

AP Photo/Aaron Favila

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LEGAZPI, Philippines (AP) -- Typhoon Hagupit slammed into the central Philippines' east coast late Saturday, knocking out power and toppling trees in a region where 650,000 people have fled to safety, still haunted by the massive death and destruction wrought by a monster storm last year.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour and gusts of 210 kph (130 mph), Hagupit made landfall in Dolores, a coastal town facing the Pacific in Eastern Samar province, according to the Philippines' weather agency. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Although it was unlikely to reach the unprecedented strength of Typhoon Haiyan, Hagupit's strong winds and heavy rain were enough to possibly cause major damage to an impoverished region still reeling from the devastating November 2013 storm, which left more than 7,300 people dead or missing.

"There are many trees that have toppled, some of them on the highway," police Senior Inspector Alex Robin said by phone late Saturday from Dolores, hours before Hagupit made landfall. "We are totally in the dark here. The only light comes from flashlights."

From Eastern Samar, Hagupit - Filipino for "smash" or "lash" - was expected to hammer parts of a string of island provinces that was devastated by Haiyan's tsunami-like storm surges and ferocious winds. Hagupit weakened slightly on Saturday, but remained dangerously powerful and erratic.

Robin said about 600 families had hunkered down in Dolores' three-story municipal hall, one of many emergency shelters in the town.

"Everyone here is just looking for a place to sleep," he said. "All the windows are closed, but it is still cool because of the wind and the rain."

Eastern Samar province Rep. Ben Evardone said electricity also was knocked out early Saturday in Borongan city, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Dolores, where the government has set up a command center for rescue and relief operations headed by Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

Evardone said the strong winds also felled trees and ripped off roofing sheets. "You can hear the whistling of the wind," he said.

"Everybody is in fear because of what happened during (Haiyan)," Evardone said. "We can already feel the wrath of the typhoon. Everybody is praying."

Big waves have pushed seawater over concrete walls along a boulevard, flooding it, Evardone said.

Army troops deployed to supermarkets and major roads in provinces in the typhoon's path to prevent looting and chaos and clear debris, all of which slowed the government's response last year, said Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, head of the Philippines' 120,000-strong military.

"We're on red alert, so the entire armed forces is being mobilized for this typhoon," Catapang said at a news conference.

While unlikely to reach Haiyan's strength, forecasters said Hagupit's maximum sustained winds and gusts were strong enough to set off deadly storm surges and landslides and cause heavy damage to communities and agriculture.

With a whirling band of rain clouds spanning 600 kilometers (373 miles), Hagupit has gained speed and was moving westward at 16 kph (10 mph), according to forecasters.

In the central city of Tacloban, where Haiyan's storm surges killed thousands of people and leveled villages, news of the approaching typhoon rekindled painful memories. Many residents fled to storm shelters, a sports stadium and churches even before authorities urged them to evacuate.

"I'm scared," said Haiyan survivor Jojo Moro. "I'm praying to God not to let another disaster strike us again. We haven't recovered from the first."

The 42-year-old businessman, who lost his wife, daughter and mother last year in Tacloban, said he stocked up on sardines, instant noodles, eggs and water.

Around 650,000 people have been moved to safety, including in Tacloban. A U.N. humanitarian agency spokesman, Denis McClean, said in Geneva that it was one of the largest peacetime evacuations in Philippine history. It also was reminiscent of the evacuation of 1 million people along India's coastline before Cyclone Phailin hit in October 2013.

Nearly 100 domestic flights have been canceled and inter-island ferry services suspended, stranding thousands of people.

"We've not heard of villagers resisting to be evacuated," regional disaster-response director Blanche Gobenciong said. "Their trauma is still so fresh."

In Tacloban, residents stacked sandbags to block floodwaters. One McDonald's restaurant was closed and boarded up to prevent a repetition of Haiyan's deluge, which shattered glass panes and doors of business establishments, allowing looting to take place.

Disaster preparations widened after two agencies tracking the typhoon closely - the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii and the Philippine weather agency - predicted different directions for Hagupit.

The U.S. agency said Hagupit (pronounced HA'-goo-pit) may veer northwest after coming inland and sweep past the southern edge of the capital, Manila, a city of more than 12 million people. The Philippine agency, known by its acronym PAGASA, projected a more southern path.

Gobenciong said the unpredictable path made it harder to ascertain which areas would be hit, but added that everybody "should prepare for the worst."

"We have a zero-casualty target," she said. "Just one loss of life will really sadden us all and make us wonder what went wrong."

---

Teves reported from Manila. Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

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Powerful typhoon slams into eastern Philippines

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Typhoon Hagupit Makes Landfall in Philippines as 1 Million Flee


 



By Alastair Jamieson and Erik Ortiz

Typhoon Hagupit began to lash the eastern Philippines with ferocious winds and heavy rain Saturday, knocking down trees and causing power outages as an estimated 1 million coastal residents fled to safety.

The vast and fickle storm system, which is expected to hover over the island nation for the next few days, packed winds gusting up to 130 mph as it made landfall in a region still recovering from last year's Typhoon Haiyan. The eye of Hagupit hit the town of Dolores in Eastern Samar around 9:15 p.m. local time (8:15 a.m. ET), according to the weather bureau PAGASA.

While the storm weakened to a category 3 level — below "super typhoon" status — residents were still bracing for major flooding, landslides and debris-choked roadways.

"There are many trees that have toppled, some of them on the highway," police Senior Inspector Alex Robin told The Associated Press by phone from Dolores. "We are totally in the dark here. The only light comes from flashlights."

Hagupit — Filipino for "smash" or "lash" — was expected to slam into the Philippine province of Eastern Samar then hammer parts of a region that was devastated by Haiyan's tsunami-like storm surges. Haiyan left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, and displaced 4 million. There were no immediate reports of casualties Saturday.

"The rain is very heavy and the wind is now really bad," Elsa Thomasma told NBC News from her home in the eastern city of Tacloban, which was ravaged by Haiyan. The 28-year-old, originally from Michigan but now working in the region, said it was not yet possible to assess the extent of any damage. "We can't see anything at all," she added.

Acairoe Fourth said his family in the Leyte province, where Tacloban is located, has decided to ride out the storm in their concrete home. His father was reinforcing the roof and windows, Fourth said.

"There is no good evacuation center in some rural areas," he told NBC News, "only in towns and cities."

Army troops deployed to supermarkets and major roads in provinces in the typhoon's path to prevent looting and chaos and clear debris, all of which slowed the government's response last year, said Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, head of the Philippines' 120,000-strong military.

"We're on red alert, so the entire armed forces is being mobilized for this typhoon," Catapang said at a news conference.

The U.N. Global Disaster Alert System said almost 32 million people — a third of the country's population — were likely to be affected in some way by cyclone-force winds.

Hagupit, known locally as Ruby, was expected to move slowly across a vast area and dump intense rainfall of up to three-quarters of an inch per hour.

Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, which is mobilizing an international rescue plan in case of disaster, said it alone had moved more than 100,000 people from coastal areas — many of whom were still living in tents while recovery work continued from Haiyan.

"Evacuations have been going smoothly in the central Philippines, as well as in the northern part of the Philippines," CCTV correspondent Barnaby Lo told The Weather Channel on Saturday. "No one's taking any chances. People here have learned their lesson."

FRANCIS R. MALASIG / EPA

Filipino residents stand in front of strong waves at a coastal village in Borongan city, Samar island, Philippines, on Dec. 6. Typhoon Hagupit made landfall in the eastern Philippines, a senior weather official said.

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Typhoon Hagupit Makes Landfall in Philippines as 1 Million Flee