MANILA, Philippines (AP) – A super typhoon stormed the eastern Philippines early Sunday with strong winds and evacuated one million people on its estimated route, including the capital where the main international airport was ordered closed. .
“There are a lot of people who are really in vulnerable areas,” said Ricardo Jalald, head of the government’s disaster response agency. “We are expecting a big loss.”
Typhoon Goni hit the island of Goni in the morning with strong winds of 225 kilometers (140 miles) per hour and winds of 280 kilometers per hour (174 miles per hour). It was moving westward to densely populated areas, including Manila, and the rain-soaked states were still recovering from the storm a week earlier, killing at least 22 people.
The Philippine Meteorological Agency said in a statement: “Within the next 12 hours, strong winds and thunderstorms will be experienced in the area of the hurricane’s inner rain band.”
It said Catanduanes and four other provinces would be killed first, including Elbe, where thousands of villagers have been evacuated, especially near the active Mayon volcano, where mudslides killed people during previous storms. Are doing Residents have been warned of possible landslides, heavy flooding, hurricane ships over 5 meters (16 feet) and strong winds that could blow shunts.
One of the world’s most powerful hurricanes this year, Goni forgot about Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013, which killed more than 7,300 people and left missing, turned entire villages into ships, flooded ships and the central Philippines. More than 5 million became homeless in
Jalalud said about one million people had been sent to emergency shelters, mostly in schools and government buildings. He warned of hurricane surges that could hit coastal villages, including Manila Bay.
Forecasters say the storm could kill or graze the metropolitan city of Manila, a densely populated capital of more than 13 million people, from late Sunday to early Monday, prompting the public to bow to the worst. Says. The hurricane could weaken after hitting the Sierra Madre mountain range, then cross the main northern island of Luzon towards the South China Sea.
Manila’s main airport was ordered closed for 24 hours from Sunday to Monday, and airlines canceled dozens of international and domestic flights. Coast guards and firefighters. The military and national police, along with personnel, have been placed on full alert.
The executioner said about 1,000 COVID-19 patients from the capital and the northern province of Bulacan have been transferred from tent segregation and treatment centers to hospitals and hotels. More emergency shelters than usual will be opened to avoid congestion that can cause infections to flare up faster.
Preparations for a war-like hurricane will put further strain on government resources, which have dried up after months of coronavirus outbreaks, prompting the government to set up isolation and treatment centers when hospitals were in crisis and to help more than 20 million poor Filipinos. Used to.
More than 380,000 confirmed cases of CIO-19 were confirmed in the Philippines, the second largest in Southeast Asia with 7,221 deaths.
Jald said homeless villagers may have to stay in evacuation centers for a long time even after Goni leaves on Tuesday. Will go out.
There are about 20 hurricanes and hurricanes a year in the Philippines. It is also located in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common around the Pacific and make the impoverished Southeast Asian country of more than 100 million people the victims of the world’s greatest catastrophe. . .
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Associated Press journalists Aaron Favilla and Joel Calupitan contributed to this report.
