Super typhoon batters central Philippines, to spare Manila
Manila: One of the most powerful storms ever recorded in history, the Super Typhoon Haiyan, slammed into the Philippines on Friday morning. The monster storm was moving
across Philippines east to west at over 275 kmph at landfall. Its strength was equivalent to an
extremely powerful category 5 hurricane. Typhoons are same type of storms as hurricanes.
Mostly, the central Philippines took the brunt, according to initial reports.
Torrential rains and high wind and flash floods lashed central Philippines from east to west
through Friday morning (local time), predicted to peter out over night, causing widespread
devastation. Two of Philippines major islands were devastated by a massive earthquake that
measured 7.2 on the Richter scale last month, killing 150 people.
The eastern coast of Samar and Luzon islands was to face severe storm surges.
However, the wind gust would be around 80 kmph only in Manila, as it bypasses the capital.
But the storm will fiercely move towards South China Sea and hit Vietnam and Laos at
devastating speeds by Saturday. The strongest typhoon of the year made landfall at Guiuan in
Samar province even as evacuation of people from coastal areas continued. No contacts
could be established with the landfall areas. All roads were blocked by fallen trees. Visibility
was poor and there were flying debris ripped off from the roofs of buildings. About 10 m
people of central Philippines were under threat of the typhoon. The storm passed through
Tacloban ands Cebu by late morning local time. There were power outages and communication network collapses in the affecetd regions.
