Typhoon Yolanda makes it way through the Philippines, expected to leave PAR Saturday morning
The most powerful storm of the year made landfall Friday morning on the island of Samar with pounding rain and wind gusts up to 275 kph will soon be out of the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) and headed toward Vietnam.
Yolanda satellite pic
Image/PAGASA
According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) , 6:00 a.m. 09 November 2013, the eye of Typhoon Yolanda ( International name: Haiyan) was located based on all available data at 440 km West of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro and headed out the South China Sea.
The storm resulted in at least four confirmed casualties–Two people were electrocuted in storm-related accidents, one person was killed by a fallen tree and another was struck by lightning, official reports said.
Yolanda triggered landslides and phone and communication services have been out for hours in several of the Visayan provinces.
World Vision reports:
Images of houses damaged, large trees uprooted, and swelling waves caused by storm surges towering as high as 16 feet have occupied international and local headlines.
An estimated 25 million people are affected in Visayas and Luzon alone. Many have been displaced, especially in Bohol, where about 5,000 families remain temporarily sheltered in makeshift tents following the recent earthquake.
“The impact has been tremendous. It’s reported to be the biggest typhoon of the year, and it is,” said Gjeff Lamigo, World Vision communications manager in Manila.
According to the LA Times, close to 720,000 people had been evacuated from towns and villages in the typhoon’s path across the central Philippines, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said. Among them were thousands of residents of Bohol who had been camped in tents and other makeshift shelters after a magnitude-7.2 earthquake hit the island province last month.
Yolanda is the 24th serious storm to hit the Philippines this year.
