Record typhoon Haiyan hits central Philippines
● Super Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines by its local name Yolanda, hit the central Philippines with sustained wind speeds of 195 miles per hour and gusts of up to 235 mph. When it hit the shores of the eastern Philippine island of Samar at 4:40 am local time on Friday November 8, it was “the strongest tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in world history,” according to meteorologist Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground. “There aren’t too many buildings constructed that can withstand that kind of wind,” he added. “There are very few storms that have stayed at category 5 strength [the highest level] for so long.”
● The typhoon ran through the Visayan islands in the central Philippines: Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Negros, and Panay. Approximately 1 million people were forced to evacuate their homes, and the Visayas region’s entire population of over 20 million was affected. The World Food Program expects that at least 2.5 million people will need food supplies. Both power and communications have been knocked out in most of the region, so damage and casualty reports are still preliminary. Three people have been confirmed dead not during the storm itself but in the earlier process of evacuation, two of them dying by electrocution from a downed power line.
● The death toll is likely to rise dramatically, however, as communications are slowly restored throughout the region and the full scope of the devastation becomes known. When the somewhat weaker Typhoon Bopha (Pablo) hit the Southern Philippine island of Mindanao in December 2012, over 1,100 people were killed. As this article went to publication, Captain John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, reported that over 100 dead bodies were “lying in the streets” in the city of Tacloban on the island of Leyte. Many more deaths seem certain to be reported. Mirror News: More Photos
South China Morning Post: More than 100 dead in Philippines typhoon: officials