I dunno what the asians have done to piss him off the last couple of years, but God is laying the smack down.
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061201/D8LNV3100.html
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Typhoon Durian killed as many as 200 people as it ripped across the eastern Philippines, flattening towns with winds gusting up to 165 mph, officials said Friday.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque cited unconfirmed reports of 200 dead. Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine National Red Cross, said the death toll stood at 146, with more than 80 people trapped and 16 missing.
Heavy rains from the storm led to flash flooding and sent a muddy wall of volcanic ash and boulders crashing down on one village, officials said.
The magnitude of the destruction hampered relief operations.
"Our rescue teams are overstretched rescuing people on rooftops," said Glen Rabonza, head of the national Office of Civil Defense.
Gordon said 50 people died and many more were missing in the village of Padang, which was hit by a mudslide of volcanic debris on the foot of the Mayon volcano. Three other villages each reported at least 25 dead.
Solid information was hard to come by. With power and phone lines downed by powerful winds, helicopters were carrying out aerial surveillance of cutoff areas. Officials estimated that the storm affected some 22,000 people.
Undersecretary Dr. Graciano Yumul of the Department of Science and Technology said the storm was particularly damaging because it came ashore Thursday in Catanduanes, an island province with no mountains to break the storm's momentum.
"So it really destroyed the island that it hit," Yumul said. "That is the reason you are seeing the kind of destruction you are seeing right now.
Noel Rosal, mayor of Legazpi city, the capital of hard-hit Albay province, visited Padang and said three of the five communities comprising the village of 1,400 people had been "wiped out" with only the roofs of several houses jutting out of the debris.
Rosal said Padang can only be reached by foot or motorcycle because a bridge linking it to Legazpi, about six miles away, was damaged.
He said the mudslide occurred at Thursday afternoon as the city was lashed by Durian. His own residence was under water that was "higher than a person" from a flash flood.
"I was almost a goner. I had to swim," Rosal said.
Jukes Nunez of the Albay Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council said many communities were still flooded Friday morning.
"The request for rescue is overwhelming. The disaster managers are victims themselves," he said.
Durian - the fourth to "super typhoon" to hit the Philippines in as many months - was packing sustained winds of 121 mph and gusts of up to 139 mph, the weather bureau said. By Friday, the typhoon weakened as it moved north of Mindoro island south of Manila with sustained winds of 94 mph and gusts of up to 116 mph as it headed toward the South China Sea.
In late September, Typhoon Xangsane left 230 people dead and missing in and around Manila. Typhoon Cimaron killed 19 people and injured 58 others last month, and earlier this month, Chebi sliced through the central Luzon region, killing one.
About 20 typhoons and tropical storms hit the Philippines each year.
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061201/D8LNV3100.html
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Typhoon Durian killed as many as 200 people as it ripped across the eastern Philippines, flattening towns with winds gusting up to 165 mph, officials said Friday.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque cited unconfirmed reports of 200 dead. Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine National Red Cross, said the death toll stood at 146, with more than 80 people trapped and 16 missing.
Heavy rains from the storm led to flash flooding and sent a muddy wall of volcanic ash and boulders crashing down on one village, officials said.
The magnitude of the destruction hampered relief operations.
"Our rescue teams are overstretched rescuing people on rooftops," said Glen Rabonza, head of the national Office of Civil Defense.
Gordon said 50 people died and many more were missing in the village of Padang, which was hit by a mudslide of volcanic debris on the foot of the Mayon volcano. Three other villages each reported at least 25 dead.
Solid information was hard to come by. With power and phone lines downed by powerful winds, helicopters were carrying out aerial surveillance of cutoff areas. Officials estimated that the storm affected some 22,000 people.
Undersecretary Dr. Graciano Yumul of the Department of Science and Technology said the storm was particularly damaging because it came ashore Thursday in Catanduanes, an island province with no mountains to break the storm's momentum.
"So it really destroyed the island that it hit," Yumul said. "That is the reason you are seeing the kind of destruction you are seeing right now.
Noel Rosal, mayor of Legazpi city, the capital of hard-hit Albay province, visited Padang and said three of the five communities comprising the village of 1,400 people had been "wiped out" with only the roofs of several houses jutting out of the debris.
Rosal said Padang can only be reached by foot or motorcycle because a bridge linking it to Legazpi, about six miles away, was damaged.
He said the mudslide occurred at Thursday afternoon as the city was lashed by Durian. His own residence was under water that was "higher than a person" from a flash flood.
"I was almost a goner. I had to swim," Rosal said.
Jukes Nunez of the Albay Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council said many communities were still flooded Friday morning.
"The request for rescue is overwhelming. The disaster managers are victims themselves," he said.
Durian - the fourth to "super typhoon" to hit the Philippines in as many months - was packing sustained winds of 121 mph and gusts of up to 139 mph, the weather bureau said. By Friday, the typhoon weakened as it moved north of Mindoro island south of Manila with sustained winds of 94 mph and gusts of up to 116 mph as it headed toward the South China Sea.
In late September, Typhoon Xangsane left 230 people dead and missing in and around Manila. Typhoon Cimaron killed 19 people and injured 58 others last month, and earlier this month, Chebi sliced through the central Luzon region, killing one.
About 20 typhoons and tropical storms hit the Philippines each year.
