1 million people forced to flee their homes as Hagupit hits coastal areas

A powerful typhoon tore through the central Philippines on Sunday, bringing howling winds that toppled trees and power poles and cut off communications in areas where thousands were killed by a massive storm just over a year ago.

More than 1 million people had fled to shelters away from coastal areas and landslide-prone villages by the time typhoon Hagupit made landfall on Saturday night, in what a UN agency said is one of the world's biggest peacetime evacuations.

Hagupit, which days earlier had reached Category 5 "supertyphoon" strength as it churned across the Pacific Ocean, weakened further on Sunday to Category 2 as it made a second landfall at Cataingan, a town in the south of Masbate Island. A Category 5 typhoon has winds of 253 km per hour or higher, while a Category 2 has winds of 154 to 177 km/h.

"We are now experiencing very strong winds and heavy rain," Wilton Co, mayor of Cataingan, told a radio station. "I asked everyone to stay indoors and move inland to higher ground, hoping that we will have zero casualties."

The typhoon was moving west northwest at 15 km/h, with sustained winds of 140 km/h and gusts of up to 170 km/h, the Philippine weather bureau said. It was expected to pass above 120 km south of the capital, Manila, by early Monday morning.

Power was cut across most of the eastern island of Samar and nearby Leyte province, including Tacloban, considered ground zero of the devastating supertyphoon Haiyan last year.

"I can't penetrate the areas. I can't go north or south because of fallen trees and power lines. Many areas are flooded," Ben Evardone, congressman for Eastern Samar, said from his base in the provincial capital, Borongan.

Local radio reported at least four people were killed in Eastern Samar and Iloilo, but that could not be confirmed by officials. The Philippine Red Cross said it was also verifying the reports.

Alexander Pama, head of the disaster agency, said major roads in parts of Samar and Leyte islands and the south of the main island of Luzon were not passable due to debris, and some areas were also flooded.

General Gregorio Catapang, head of the military, said nearly 2,000 soldiers were clearing the roads and two airports on Samar to bring in food trucks and aircraft loaded with emergency supplies.

Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo said, "There were areas that experienced storm surges," adding that the agency was verifying the exact height of the waves.

Tacloban spared

The weather bureau said Hagupit - which means "lash" in Filipino - was maintaining the projected path that would take it through Masbate, Romblon and Mindoro islands in the archipelago's central belt, slightly north of areas devastated by supertyphoon Haiyan last year.

Residents of low-lying villages and landslide-prone areas had been evacuated to schools, civic centers, town halls, gyms and churches, the national disaster agency said.

Alfred Romnualdez, mayor of Tacloban, said although more than 48,000 had fled to shelters, damage to the city appears to have been minor.

"Thank God the typhoon spared us and we have no reported casualties," Romualdez said. "By the end of the day, we expect the people to return to their homes from shelter areas."

More than 1.2 million people crowded into 1,500 evacuation centers across the central Philippines, said Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the Philippine Red Cross, adding that local governments are providing the evacuees' basic needs.

Reuters - AP

(China Daily 12/08/2014 page11)