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16 Filipinos killed as Manila bears brunt of typhoon's fury
Source: Agencies |
September 28, 2011, Wednesday
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MANILA residents waded through waist-deep floodwaters and dodged flying debris yesterday as a powerful typhoon struck the Philippines, killing at least 16 people and sending waves as tall as palm trees crashing over seawalls.
Most deaths occurred in metropolitan Manila, which already was soaked by heavy monsoon rains ahead of Typhoon Nesat's arrival with more downpours and wind gusts of up to 150 kilometers per hour. Downtown areas along Manila Bay suffered their worst flooding in decades.
Pounding rains obscured the view of anyone on the streets as soldiers and police scrambled to safely evacuate thousands of people in low-lying areas, where rivers and the sea spilled into shanties, hospitals, swanky hotels and even the seaside United States Embassy compound.
"It's flooded everywhere. We don't have a place to go for shelter. Even my motorcycle got filled with water," said motorist Ray Gonzales, one of thousands stranded by fast-rising floodwaters.
The massive flooding came exactly a day after this sprawling, coastal city of 12 million held two-year commemorations for the nearly 500 people killed during a 2009 cyclone, which dumped a month's rainfall in just 12 hours. The geography of the archipelago makes it a welcome mat for about 20 storms and typhoons from the Pacific each year.
Some residents acted more quickly this time to evacuate homes as waters rose, including in the Manila suburb of Marikina where 2,000 people escaped the swelling river by flocking to an elementary school, carrying pets, TV sets, bags of clothes and bottled water. "We can replace things, but not people's lives," said janitor Banny Domanais, arriving at the school with his wife and three young daughters.
Typhoon Nesat hit ashore before dawn yesterday in eastern provinces and headed inland just north of Manila with up to an inch of rain per hour, half that of the storm two years ago, said government forecaster Samuel Duran.
Emergency workers evacuated river areas in Manila that are notorious for flooding. In all, authorities ordered more than 100,000 people across the country to shelter from the storm's sustained winds of up to 120 kph and its rains - dropping from an immense 650-km cloud band.
The first reported death was a 1-year-old boy who drowned in the central island province of Catanduanes after falling into a creek, the government disaster agency reported. As the typhoon's winds lashed metropolitan Manila, a mother and child were killed when their house was hit by a falling tree, and four were killed by a collapsing wall.
Two others drowned, while a man was buried in a landslide in Olongapo west of Manila and another died in traffic collision. Four girls and a baby were pinned to death by falling trees north of Manila, and three more children were missing.
Four people were unaccounted for in a landslide in mountainous Ifugao province, as were four fishermen while more than 50 others were rescued along eastern shores after their boats overturned in choppy seas.
The storm was expected to leave the Philippines late last night and head into the South China Sea toward southern China.
Most deaths occurred in metropolitan Manila, which already was soaked by heavy monsoon rains ahead of Typhoon Nesat's arrival with more downpours and wind gusts of up to 150 kilometers per hour. Downtown areas along Manila Bay suffered their worst flooding in decades.
Pounding rains obscured the view of anyone on the streets as soldiers and police scrambled to safely evacuate thousands of people in low-lying areas, where rivers and the sea spilled into shanties, hospitals, swanky hotels and even the seaside United States Embassy compound.
"It's flooded everywhere. We don't have a place to go for shelter. Even my motorcycle got filled with water," said motorist Ray Gonzales, one of thousands stranded by fast-rising floodwaters.
The massive flooding came exactly a day after this sprawling, coastal city of 12 million held two-year commemorations for the nearly 500 people killed during a 2009 cyclone, which dumped a month's rainfall in just 12 hours. The geography of the archipelago makes it a welcome mat for about 20 storms and typhoons from the Pacific each year.
Some residents acted more quickly this time to evacuate homes as waters rose, including in the Manila suburb of Marikina where 2,000 people escaped the swelling river by flocking to an elementary school, carrying pets, TV sets, bags of clothes and bottled water. "We can replace things, but not people's lives," said janitor Banny Domanais, arriving at the school with his wife and three young daughters.
Typhoon Nesat hit ashore before dawn yesterday in eastern provinces and headed inland just north of Manila with up to an inch of rain per hour, half that of the storm two years ago, said government forecaster Samuel Duran.
Emergency workers evacuated river areas in Manila that are notorious for flooding. In all, authorities ordered more than 100,000 people across the country to shelter from the storm's sustained winds of up to 120 kph and its rains - dropping from an immense 650-km cloud band.
The first reported death was a 1-year-old boy who drowned in the central island province of Catanduanes after falling into a creek, the government disaster agency reported. As the typhoon's winds lashed metropolitan Manila, a mother and child were killed when their house was hit by a falling tree, and four were killed by a collapsing wall.
Two others drowned, while a man was buried in a landslide in Olongapo west of Manila and another died in traffic collision. Four girls and a baby were pinned to death by falling trees north of Manila, and three more children were missing.
Four people were unaccounted for in a landslide in mountainous Ifugao province, as were four fishermen while more than 50 others were rescued along eastern shores after their boats overturned in choppy seas.
The storm was expected to leave the Philippines late last night and head into the South China Sea toward southern China.
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