(Image from PAGASA) As of 11:00AM today, typhoon Fengsheng was situated about 300kms northwest off the coast of the Philippines. It has pretty much cleared the country's land mass, but not without leaving behind nearly 800 people missing from a capsized ferry, and an official death toll to date of 160 for the areas affected.
(Image from Tropical Storm Risk)In Iloilo province alone, its governor mentioned last night that 38 of its 42 municipalities were to be put under a 'state of calamity'. Its infrastructure and agricultural industry is under water. Flood waters deluged the province since Saturday evening and Fengsheng's 120kph winds only encouraged the water to flow more strongly through the area. Losses there are estimated to hit US$38 million.
The most spectacularly tragic story is that of the ferry that left Cebu for Manila on Saturday evening --- three hours before the Coast Guard issued the 'stop' order for any vessels to sail off. The ship had left port when the typhoon alert was at signal #1. It seems that based on maritime regulation and the size of the ship, this was allowable. But, Fengsheng's course was originally set to just graze the eastern seaboard of the country, then hook right and up towards the northeast and back out to the water. Somewhere along the way, mother Nature changed her mind and decided to re-direct Fengsheng towards Albay province (which has still not fully recovered from typhoon Durian which cut through the region in late 2006), then it changed course again and headed towards the southern Luzon. From the frantic reports yesterday, it seems that Fengsheng's course shifted about five time s before heading up towards the northwest of the country and out to the South China Sea.
Manila fared better off. Winds started to pick up at around 3AM - 4AM on Sunday morning. I was enjoying the strong breeze flowing in through the window until I started to hear scaffolding material banging outside, and the window creaking on its hinges. We lucked out in our building as the electricity stayed on. Other areas were not as lucky as their electricity soon got cut off. The rain fell steadily throughout the day with the wind taking a break every few hours or so before picking up again. It wasn't nearly as strong as when typhoon Milenyo hit, but it inconvenienced quite a number of people who had to deal with floods in their areas, no electiricity, and no cable TV.
The city is getting back to normal as cleaning crews collect debris. The sun has now been shining for the last hour or so, and it seems that the heat will be imposing its miserable self upon all of us once again. The province of Pangasinan seems to have been spared yesterday. It still has not gotten off its feet after typhoon Cosme pounded the region about a month ago. In Alaminos, Pangasinan Cosme last month managed to destroy 75% of all the public school buildings in the city. The mayor notes that they have to rebuild 800 homes/buildings and has been scrounging for wood to start rebuilding. Had Fengsheng hit... All will not be well for Iloilo and the areas in the Visayas that took the brunt of typhoon Fengsheng's wrath. I expect recovery to take some time.
This is only the second or the third typhoon to hit the country, and we are still early in the season. We were spared any major natural disasters in 2007 and if this keeps it up, it will be quite a busy season. It will also likely be detrimental for the economy which is already reeling from high food and oil prices. Manila may be able to weather the storm, but that is going to be so much more difficult for the rest of the country to do so.
The most spectacularly tragic story is that of the ferry that left Cebu for Manila on Saturday evening --- three hours before the Coast Guard issued the 'stop' order for any vessels to sail off. The ship had left port when the typhoon alert was at signal #1. It seems that based on maritime regulation and the size of the ship, this was allowable. But, Fengsheng's course was originally set to just graze the eastern seaboard of the country, then hook right and up towards the northeast and back out to the water. Somewhere along the way, mother Nature changed her mind and decided to re-direct Fengsheng towards Albay province (which has still not fully recovered from typhoon Durian which cut through the region in late 2006), then it changed course again and headed towards the southern Luzon. From the frantic reports yesterday, it seems that Fengsheng's course shifted about five time s before heading up towards the northwest of the country and out to the South China Sea.
Manila fared better off. Winds started to pick up at around 3AM - 4AM on Sunday morning. I was enjoying the strong breeze flowing in through the window until I started to hear scaffolding material banging outside, and the window creaking on its hinges. We lucked out in our building as the electricity stayed on. Other areas were not as lucky as their electricity soon got cut off. The rain fell steadily throughout the day with the wind taking a break every few hours or so before picking up again. It wasn't nearly as strong as when typhoon Milenyo hit, but it inconvenienced quite a number of people who had to deal with floods in their areas, no electiricity, and no cable TV.
The city is getting back to normal as cleaning crews collect debris. The sun has now been shining for the last hour or so, and it seems that the heat will be imposing its miserable self upon all of us once again. The province of Pangasinan seems to have been spared yesterday. It still has not gotten off its feet after typhoon Cosme pounded the region about a month ago. In Alaminos, Pangasinan Cosme last month managed to destroy 75% of all the public school buildings in the city. The mayor notes that they have to rebuild 800 homes/buildings and has been scrounging for wood to start rebuilding. Had Fengsheng hit... All will not be well for Iloilo and the areas in the Visayas that took the brunt of typhoon Fengsheng's wrath. I expect recovery to take some time.
This is only the second or the third typhoon to hit the country, and we are still early in the season. We were spared any major natural disasters in 2007 and if this keeps it up, it will be quite a busy season. It will also likely be detrimental for the economy which is already reeling from high food and oil prices. Manila may be able to weather the storm, but that is going to be so much more difficult for the rest of the country to do so.
Related Posts
TS Fengsheng
After the Storm (Milenyo)
Typhoon Reming - The Aftermath
HODR & Operation Smile
Related Links
"Aklan and Typhoon Frank"
"Iloilo after the deluge (PCIJ)"
"Antique turned into ‘one big sea' (PCIJ)"
Posts
7 comments:
That looks like quite a large storm, to say the least! I hope the damage wasn't significant.
a very sad news :( thanks for sharing and showing this photos.
keep safe.
I still didn't go out yet, so I didn't know how our place was affected.
My WS photos are now posted in these blogs:
Shutter Happenings
Le Kulitszie Familie
Memories by Jenn
Jenn Was Here
Please drop by if you have the time. Thanks!
it was soooo tragic!
that's so sad...hope i won't hear anymore bad news...i pray for all of them who are affected by the typhoon!
mine's up too at this link!
i'm soprry to hear about the storm.
My WS Entry is here, check it out.
Thank you for linking my blog. Means a lot :)
Cheryl
http://kyrienne.wordpress.com/2008
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