Philippines looks to God as super typhoon looms are Grace

[Snowy Owl]

Philippines looks to God as super typhoon looms

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...Y-YPRSCy4S__Kg

By Mynardo Macaraig (AFP) – 1 hour ago


MANILA

Millions of terrified Philippine flood survivors hunkered down Friday as a super typhoon approached, with officials pleading for God to save the disaster-struck Southeast Asian country from more devastation.

Typhoon Parma, packing gusts of 230 kilometres (145 miles) an hour, was forecast to hit rural areas in the north of the Philippines' main island of Luzon before dawn on Saturday.

The government warned Parma would tear down houses in its direct path, while likely bringing more heavy rain and high winds to the nation's capital, Manila, and nearby areas still recovering from record floods last weekend.


"I am more worried about the wind, the damage it can do, breaking window glass, and blowing the roof off the house. Floods are easier to face," said Annette Kawilan, whose Manila house was flooded in Saturday's deluge.
"Basically you want to remain where you are because you want to save your things, your family. We want to be together. We don't know where to go."

Kawilan was among the more than three million people affected by tropical storm Ketsana, which killed at least 293 people as it pounded Manila and surrounding areas with the heaviest rains in four decades.


Nearly 400,000 people remain in under-prepared schools, gymnasiums and other makeshift evacuation centres.


The rains from Parma threaten to worsen already squalid conditions and further hamper relief supplies for the survivors in those shelters.


Many parts of Manila and neighbouring regions also remain under water -- with mud, debris and trash still blocking drains -- so any more rain could lead to another surge in flood waters.


And because of Ketsana, much soil across Luzon cannot absorb too much more rain, meaning storms do not have to be as heavy as normal for floods to occur, the government weather station warned.


Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometres to the north in the rural provinces of Isabela and Aurora, people were preparing for the full onslaught of Parma, which the government has termed a "super typhoon".

"These gusts are strong enough to destroy houses, to rip the roofs off houses," Nathaniel Cruz, head of the weather forecasting unit, said in a radio interview.

"The best thing we can do for the lives of our countrymen is to look for the strongest building where our countrymen can take refuge while the storm is passing."

Cruz warned people in Aurora and Isabela not to be fooled into thinking the typhoon would not wreak havoc, just because the winds had yet to be be felt.

"They might think it isn't something to worry about but from our radar and satellite image, we can see it is an incredibly strong typhoon," he said.
The governor of Aurora, Bella Angara, said officials were preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

"The prediction is that this typhoon is very strong. Our prayers are that no lives will be lost. God answered our prayers (during tropical storm Ketsana) and we are hopeful we will be spared again," Angara said on radio.


Most of the Philippines' population of 92 million is devoutly Catholic.


Aurora is a mainly rural province of mountains and rice plains, with a population of about 187,000 people.


Isabela is another fertile farming region but much bigger and has a population of about 1.4 million.


The Philippines is normally battered by about 20 typhoons annually, but the pattern has changed in recent years and the ferocity of some has increased.

Some weather experts have blamed the changing nature and pattern of the typhoons on climate change.

[Snowy Owl]

"Super typhoon" bears down on flood-ravaged Philippines
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...5910VE20091002
Fri Oct 2, 2009 2:38am EDT

MANILA (Reuters) -

The Philippines declared a nationwide state of calamity on Friday as a "super typhoon" bore down days after flash floods killed nearly 300 people in and around Manila.

Typhoon Parma, 180 km (110 miles) northeast of the island of Catanduanes in the central Philippines, was gaining strength as it churned west-northwest toward the Luzon mainland, bringing heavy rain.


It was expected to make landfall near the northeastern province of Isabela on Saturday. The area is mountainous and not heavily populated, but Parma was likely to lash Luzon with rain over the next two days, making life worse in flood-hit regions.


"We're concerned about the effects of more rain on the relief work in flooded areas because the water level could rise again," Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said in a briefing aired live on national television.

The Asia-Pacific region has been hit by a series of natural disasters in recent days, including Typhoon Ketsana which killed more than 400 in the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Two powerful earthquakes rocked the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with the death toll likely to be in the thousands, and a tsunami battered American and Western Samoa, killing nearly 150.

In Taiwan, authorities identified 12 villages for mandatory evacuation ahead of Parma and another storm in the Pacific, Typhoon Melor.
The Taiwan government came in for heavy criticism after a deadly typhoon in August killed as many as 770 people.


In the Philippines, harsh criticism of the slow response to last week's floods could affect the chances of Teodoro at next May's presidential election, where he is seeking to replace President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Teodoro, who is also the head of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, has placed the military and police on alert and ordered civilian agencies to stockpile food, water, medicine, fuel and other relief supplies.

Arroyo declared a state of calamity across the country, which will allow local governments access to emergency funds for relief work.

She also ordered provincial governments to evacuate people living in low-lying areas in the path of Parma, by force if necessary.

The weather bureau said Parma, with gusts of up to 230 kph (143 mph) at the center, will be the strongest typhoon to hit the country since 2006.
"It's still very much possible that we will raise signal number 4 as it closes in on northern Luzon," Prisco Nilo, head of the weather bureau, told reporters.


At signal number 4, residential and commercial buildings may be severely damaged, large trees uprooted, and power and communication lines may be cut.

Last week's storm, Ketsana, left tens of thousands homeless in and around Manila and areas around a lake near the capital remain submerged under 2-3 meter floodwaters.

It also damaged or destroyed more than $108 million in crops, infrastructure and property

The Philippines is hit by frequent typhoons in the summer which often continue on their track to hit Vietnam, China and Taiwan before weakening over land.


(Additional reporting by Ho Binh Minh in Hanoi, Ralph Jennings in Taipei and Manny Mogato)
(Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

[Snowy Owl]

Last Updated: Thursday, October 1, 2009 12:38:24 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Ketsana leaves behind more death and destruction Storm Ketsana has killed at least 92 people, left 19 missing, and injured 199 in Vietnam More fatalities, submerged homes, destroyed boats, isolated areas, and paralyzed traffic were reported on Wednesday night after Typhoon Ketsana’s departure from central Vietnam the day before. Since the ferocious storm struck the central coast on Tuesday, it has killed at least 92 people, left 19 missing, and injured 199, according to the latest statistics from the national flood and storm control committee. Floodwaters from the torrential rain accompanying the ninth storm from the East Sea this year have submerged or destroyed nearly 337,000 homes, schools and other man-made structures. Crops have been ruined on a massive scale too. On Wednesday, five of the ten or more affected provinces - Thua Thien Hue, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and Kon Tum - reported crop losses totaling VND2,165 billion (US$112.14 million). Although the rain had eased and river levels were dropping, many roads in the region remained deep underwater that night. In Quang Nam, streets in Que Xuan Commune were up to 1.5 meters deep in water, and National Highway 1A was jammed for hours. Nine of the 15 rural communes and urban wards in the coastal town of Hoi An were submerged to such an extent that only rooftops could be seen in some places. The flooding was almost as bad in Da Nang, and many roads are still littered with tree trunks and limbs, garbage and broken billboards. Da Nang City’s Environmental and Urban Company said it had dispatched nearly 1,000 employees to clean up the mess, and estimated it would take at least five more days to finish the job. Nguyen Huu Tuyen of Vietnam Railways said the water had washed away or damaged miles of track in Hue, Da Nang, and Quang Ngai. While none of the train lines had been restored by late Wednesday, the broken sections of the main north-south line should be fixed by Thursday afternoon, Tuyen said. As elsewhere in the region, many communities in Thua Thien-Hue were isolated by the floods. In the province’s Phu Luong Commune, the roads were up to two meters underwater. “The storm had already left yet the floodwaters continued to rise, in fact to the highest level in ten years. It was so unexpected,” said Nguyen Viet Ngu, chairman of Phu Luong People’s Committee. “It’s going to be really hard on the locals for the next few days,” Ngu said. The nation is being urged to pitch in and help the central provinces hit by Ketsana, which killed at least 246 people in the Philippines before crossing Vietnam and taking 11 lives in Cambodia. The typhoon is barely off Vietnam’s radar yet already two more storms - Parma and Melor - are brewing over the Pacific Ocean, national weather center director Bui Minh Tang told Thanh Nien. On Wednesday afternoon, Parma was 1,100 kilometers to the east of the Philippines, while Melor was some 2,400 kilometers farther away, Tang said. “Both storms are traveling westward at 25-30 kilometers per hour at the moment but they are forecast to become super storms within the next two to three days,” he said. Whether it will reach the East Sea and pummel Vietnam is still unknown. Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=52809

[gsgs]

expected damage in $ ?
expected #deaths ?

one number is better than 1000 words

[Snowy Owl]

From Cambodia

Typhoon Ketsana Kills 9 in Kampongthom

http://www.khmernews.com/view/typhoo...pongthom/2794/


Friday, October 02, 2009


Kampongthom Province: At least Typhoon Ketsana killed nine Cambodian people, injured 21 on September 29 and 30 in some district in Kampongthom Province. Other properties like animals, rice paddy are also affected. The destroyed districts are Brasat, Sambou, Sandan, Baray, and Prasatbalang. Besides, the strong storms devastated about 476 houses. Some areas in Siem Reap and Preah Vichea have been flooded, too. The authority sent makeshift food to the save the victims in Sandan district, which is the most affected.

[Vibrant62]

Originally Posted by gsgs

expected damage in $ ?
expected #deaths ?

one number is better than 1000 words

Only if you are able to see the world through numbers, as you do. Few people are able to see the world in this way, nor interpret it. I think it is a gift that is fairly unique to you and a few others like you

[Snowy Owl]

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Parma shifted course and weakened last night, reducing its effect on Manila and the southern part of the Philippine island of Luzon. It’s forecast to make landfall in northern Luzon later today before heading toward Taiwan.



The respite will help government officials and relief organizations to deal with the effects of Tropical Storm Ketsana, which flooded Manila and surrounding provinces a week ago, forcing more than 800,000 to abandon their homes. Schools, many used as evacuation and relief operation centers, were shut all week. Some areas remain flooded while others, including Marikina in eastern Manila, are mired in as much as two feet of mud.

“It’s a big help, we weren’t ready for another catastrophe,” Marikina Mayor Marides Fernando said in a phone interview. “Prayers worked; everyone was praying. We can go back to our homes.”

Most of the municipality’s 10,000 remaining evacuees may be home before Monday, allowing schools to reopen.



Parma is now traveling in a northwesterly direction instead of a west-northwest path, Philippine weather bureau Director Nathaniel Cruz said in a phone interview. Parma was 370 kilometers (230 miles) northeast of Manila at 4 a.m. local time, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Parma’s winds decreased to 185 kilometers per hour from 222 kilometers per hour.



Canceled Signal


The bureau canceled the public storm signal over Manila and some surrounding provinces and reduced the signal to No. 1 from No. 2 in the Bicol region southeast of Manila.



In Catanduanes, the province nearest to Parma’s path last night, “the wind wasn’t devastating,” Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Basco, the local Army commander there, said in a phone interview. “Even our squad tents didn’t fly off. If it didn’t affect our tents, more so houses.”



While landslides partially blocked roads in three villages, many of the 6,000 persons evacuated yesterday are already returning home.



Albay province, also in the Bicol region, is sending home the 15,300 families it evacuated in the past two days, Governor Joey Salceda said. According to initial reports, damage was limited to flooding of some rice paddies and the roof being blown off one “old” building, he said.



Santa Ana


The typhoon is forecast to make landfall tonight around Santa Ana in Cagayan province north of Manila, the weather bureau’s Cruz said in a phone interview. Cagayan and surrounding provinces remain under signals No. 2 and No. 3, indicating winds as strong as 185 kilometers per hour. The Central Weather Bureau in Taiwan, north of the Philippines, issued a sea warning.



Isabela province immediately south of Cagayan has prepared trucks, rubber boats and outriggers for rescue and relief operations, Vice Governor Ramon Reyes said in a phone interview. They’ve packed more than 10,000 bags with rice, canned corned beef and sardines, coffee, noodles and sugar, he said. Farmers tried to save what they could of the rice crop, much of which is sold in Manila.



“We expect the province to be part of the center of the storm,” Reyes said. “If this harvest gets destroyed, the country will have a shortage.” Ketsana “didn’t affect the province and we even sent relief goods to Manila, he said. “The situation might reverse. We hope it wouldn’t come to that.”



http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aRAkxc6eJy2o