The typhoon that raged through the central Philippines has reportedly resulted in the deaths of 28 people till now, with 12 people missing, according to the disaster agency. Authorities, however, went on to quickly restore power, while residents attempted to repair damaged homes.
With wind speeds ranging from 120-150kph, the Typhoon Phanfone struck the Philippines late on Tuesday night. With incessant rainfall on a string of rainfalls, ravaging hundreds of homes and resulting in floods in eight areas.
The typhoon, which is the seventh one to strike the Philippines this year, came at the unfortunate moment when millions of people in the country were going home for Christmas festivities with their families. Of the 185,000 people affected by the typhoon, approximately 43,000 people were in temporary shelters on Friday. The typhoon reportedly damaged 49 homes and partially damaged 2,000.
As a result of the typhoon, approximately 115 flights were canceled, while thousands of people were stranded by the suspension of ships due to the storm. Though the reason for their deaths was unknown, yet officials said that the people were hit by trees, got drowned, or electrocuted. Mark Timbal, disaster agency spokesman said, “People did not expect that the storm would be that devastating.”
The typhoon Phanfone, though less powerful than the earlier ones this year, has struck some of the poorest and less-developed islands in the country. Of the several islands struck by the typhoon, the island of Samar too bore its brunt, which is said to have withstood the Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, the Philippines’ most fatal storm on record. The typhoon had reportedly killed 6,300 people.
The residents tried to clear the land off debris with parts of homes thrown apart by the typhoon. One of the residents of Samar, Virgilo Catayas, whose sibling was killed by the typhoon Haiyan, lost another one when the Typhoon Phanfone hit the Philippines.
“We can’t really do much if that’s what happened, we’ll have to accept it. The important thing is to stay strong,” he was reported as saying to the broadcaster ABS-CBN.
Although the disaster agency reported 55 schools to have suffered damage, television showed slight damage to the Kalibo airport. As per the agriculture department, the initial damages, mostly to the fish farms, are of around 569 million pesos (US$ 11.17). Late on Wednesday, when the storm moved out over the South China Sea, government workers were seen clearing trees from the roads, as circulated on social media.
