Typhoon Haiyan

[Medic Mike]

Philippines braces for super typhoon

 

Manila - Authorities in the Philippines grounded air and sea transport on Thursday and urged fishing boats to return to port, as an approaching super typhoon, the most powerful storm on earth this year, gathered speed.

Typhoon Haiyan is expected to make landfall early on Friday between the central islands of Samar and Leyte.

With centre winds of 215kph and gusts of up to 250kph, the storm, rated as category five, the most severe, was moving west-northwest at 33kph in the Pacific Ocean.

President Benigno Aquino appealed to citizens to evacuate danger zones. "I am calling for community teamwork and cooperation," he said on national television and radio.

Aquino said 100 coastal areas face the threat of storm surges, bringing waves higher than 5m to 6m, and ordered action by local officials to limit damage and loss of lives.

Thousands of residents were moved from coastlines, river banks, and mountain slopes to safer spots, while military transport vehicles were put on standby.

Strong winds and heavy rain buffeted areas in the path of the storm, as the state weather bureau raised alert levels in more than 20 parts of the central Philippines.

The coast guard suspended ferry operations, ordered a halt to fishing and warned deep-sea fishing boats to seek shelter or return to port. Carrier Cebu Pacific announced the suspension of more than 100 local flights.

Hospitals were put on alert, with schools and some offices shut and power and communication lines turned off for safety.

Officials used bullhorns to urge residents of coastal and upland villages to move to safer areas, as trees were trimmed and boats dragged to shore.

The state weather bureau raised storm alert to level 4 on the coconut-growing islands of Samar and Leyte. Officials in 12 more central provinces also began stockpiling food, water and relief supplies.

An estimated 10 million people face disruption from typhoon Haiyan, say international relief agencies that are stepping up operations to tackle the storm.

"The humanitarian impact of Haiyan threatens to be colossal, not only in areas directly in its path, but also for nearby islands such as Bohol," said Patrick Fuller of the International Federation of Red cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Particularly vulnerable, he added, were thousands of people living in makeshift shelters on Bohol after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake last month that killed more than 200 people and displaced thousands.

An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year. In 2011, typhoon Washi killed 1 200 people, displaced 300 000 and destroyed more than 10 000 homes.

In September, another category-five storm, typhoon Usagi, with central winds of 205kph and gusts of up to 240kph, battered the northern island of Batanes before causing damage in southern China.

Bopha, last year's strongest storm, flattened three coastal towns on the southern island of Mindanao, killing 1 100 people and wrecking damage estimated at $1.04 billion. -Reuters

 

 

Edited November 7, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Medic Mike]

Is Megastorm Yolanda (Haiyan) the Daughter of 1970 Typhoon Yoling? A Review of 5 Superstorms That Battered the Philippines in the Past 5 Years

 

With the expected entry of megastorm Haiyan (Local name: Yolanda) in the Philippine area of responsibility by Thursday night or Friday morning, the Philippines will once more reaffirm its unfortunate title of natural calamity capital of the world.

It is on record that this southeast Asian country holds the record for the number of natural calamities to hit the archipelago yearly. Name it, the country has experienced it - earthquakes, floods, mega typhoons. The only exceptions probably are tornadoes, tsunamis and snowstorms.

 

But by sheer number, it is tops. In typhoons alone, an average of 20 hit the country yearly, so that its old 22 alphabet letters were usually not enough to name the storms locally that sometimes before the year ends, the storm's name already begins with either the letters A, B or K.

Yolanda, which is packing winds of 134 mph and gusts of 155 mph is expected to affect 14 million Filipinos, including those residing in the Philippine provinces of Cebu and Bohol who were devastated in October by a magnitude 7 tremor.

It would be the 24^th storm to hit the country.

Yolanda brings to mind, for those who are in the 50s and above, a superstorm that hit the Philippines on Nov 14, 1970 - Yoling. Going by Philippine tradition of having pet or nickname, a woman with the first name Yolanda would have a nickname of Yolly if she were a city girl and Yoling if she were a country lass.

That trivia said, the parallelism of the two mega typhoons makes one wonder if Yolanda is the youngest daughter of Yoling, or perhaps eldest granddaughter. Both have the 2^nd week of November as their hit dates.

Yoling, whose international name is Patsy, battered the Philippines for 5 days and then moved to wreak havoc in Vietnam. It killed 106 people and caused more than 30,000 to become homeless. The American vessel USS President Taft separated from its anchor and collided with the Greek ship Alikimon in Manila Bay.

Until 2009, Yoling held the record for being the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines. But its record was replaced by tropical storm Ketsana (local name: Ondoy), one of the five mega typhoons that battered the Philippines in the past five years.

 

YouTube/012170

Names of super destructive typhoons that hit the Philippines are retired, hence Yoling is no longer used. Hopefully, Yolanda would also one day be retired as a typhoon name.

Here are five recent typhoons that has caused so much destruction and grief to Filipinos in recent memory.

• Bopha/Pablo (Dec 2-9, 2012) - Destroyed $1.04 billion worth of properties and crops; killed 1,146 people

 

YouTube/euronews

• Washi/Sendong (Dec 16-17, 2011) - Killed 1,268 people

 

YouTube/The Telegraph

• Parma/Pepeng (Oct 2-10, 2009) - Destroyed $608 million worth of properties and crops.

 

YouTubw/MusicHitsChannel

• Ketsana/Ondoy (Sept 25-27, 2009) - Destroyed $244 million worth of properties; Flooded Metro Manila for one week; Killed at least 464 people
• Fengshen/Frank (June 20-23, 2008) - Destroyed $301 million worth of properties and crops; Killed 1,410 people

 

YouTube/Al Jazeera English

 

Edited November 7, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Jake]

people here in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines is again ready for this kind of challenges.. we've been successful during bagyong pablo, and now, eto na naman.... sana zero casualty ulit....

A little translation is in order here: the people in CDO has been successful during typhoon Pablo and now here

we are again, hopefully with zero casualties again.  We try our best to learn the local dialect and customs but

using this forum, we communicate in English.  I hope you understand ThreadStone.

 

Respectfully -- Jake

[Medic Mike]

Mass evacuations as Philippines braces for powerful Typhoon Haiyan

Posted 1 hour 18 minutes ago

Photo: Typhoon Haiyan is threatening the Philippines with devastating winds and severe flooding. (Antony Dickson: AFP)

Related Story: Death toll from Philippines earthquake reaches 99, expected to rise

 

Map: Philippines

The year's most powerful typhoon is swirling towards the Philippines, forcing mass evacuations, flight cancellations and school suspensions across the disaster-weary nation.

President Benigno Aquino called on his countrymen to make all possible preparations for Typhoon Haiyan, which was generating wind gusts exceeding 330 kilometres an hour.

The powerful typhoon is set to hit the nation on Friday morning (local time).

Haiyan is expected to make landfall on Samar island, about 600 kilometres south-east of Manila, then cut across the central and southern Philippines before exiting into the South China Sea late on Saturday.

Mr Aquino warned areas within the expected 600-kilometre typhoon front would be exposed to severe flooding as well as devastating winds, while coastal areas can expect six-metre-high waves.

Typhoon to hit areas already devastated by disaster

State weather forecaster Glaize Escullar said Haiyan was expected to hit areas still recovering from a devastating storm in 2011 and from a 7.1-magnitude quake last month.

They include the central island of Bohol, the epicentre of the earthquake that killed 222 people, where at least 5,000 survivors are still living in tents while waiting for new homes.

"The provincial governor has ordered local disaster officials to ensure that pre-emptive evacuations are done, both for those living in tents as well as those in flood-prone areas," Bohol provincial administrator Alfonso Damalerio said.

Other vulnerable areas are the port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on the southern island of Mindanao, where flash floods induced by tropical storm Washi killed more than 1,000 people in December 2011.

Authorities said evacuations were taking place in many other towns and villages in Haiyan's path, while schools were closed, ferry services suspended and fishermen ordered to secure their vessels.

Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and other carriers announced the suspension of hundreds of flights, mostly domestic but also some international.

Gusts up to 333 kilometres an hour recorded

Haiyan has so far sustained winds of 278 kilometres an hour, and gusts of 333 kilometres an hour, according to the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.

This made it the world's strongest typhoon this year, according to David Michael Padua, a meteorologist with the Weather Philippines Foundation, a storm monitoring organisation.

The Philippines is battered by an average of 20 major storms or typhoons each year, many of them deadly, but scientists have said climate change may be increasing their ferocity and frequency.

The Philippines endured the world's strongest storm of 2012, when Typhoon Bopha left about 2,000 people dead or missing on Mindanao island in December.

The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System, jointly run by the United Nations and the European Commission, said nearly 16 million people, including more than 12 million from the Philippines, were at risk from Haiyan.

The others were in Laos and Vietnam, which are forecast to be hit on Sunday, it said on its website.

"Haiyan can have a high humanitarian impact," it said.

AFP

Edited November 7, 2013 by Medic Mike

[BrettGC]

SAO has battened down and evacuated inland with her family  - not fun considering the construction, thank god for family close by to help.  Stay safe everyone, my thoughts are with you. 

Edited November 7, 2013 by BrettGC

[Medic Mike]

'Yolanda' is world's strongest cyclone in 2013

ABS-CBNnews.com

Posted at 11/07/2013 9:43 PM | Updated as of 11/07/2013 9:50 PM

ABS-CBN Weather Center map shows Typhoon Yolanda moving closer to the Philippines.

Storm signal no. 4 raised in 10 areas as 'Yolanda' nears

MANILA - Super typhoon Yolanda is the world's strongest tropical cyclone this year, according to foreign weather forecasters.

The US military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), in an advisory, said Yolanda was packing maximum sustained winds of 278 kilometers per hour (kph) and gusts reaching 333 kph.

Similar Category 5 level storms this year -- Usagi, Francisco, Lekima, and Phailin -- only had maximum sustained winds of 260 kph.

"Due to very favorable environmental conditions, the system is expected to remain at super typhoon intensity over the next 24 hours," the Hawaii-based JTWC said.

The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) has issued an orange alert for storm surge impact in the Philippines because of the typhoon.

It said a 2.3-meter high storm surge may hit Pontevedra, Negros Occidental on November 8.

Other areas threatened by storm surge include Estancia, Tacloban, Bantayan island, Binon-an, Balasan, President Roxas, Montiflor, Carles, Bagacay, San Antonio, and Basey.

Signal no. 4 up over 10 areas

Meantime, public storm warning signal number 4 has been raised in 10 areas in the Visayas, with typhoon Yolanda gaining more strength as it bears down on the Philippines, state weather bureau PAGASA said Thursday evening.

The typhoon slightly accelerated but maintained its track, PAGASA said in a press briefing.

The cyclone is expected to make landfall at around 5 a.m. Friday over Guiuan or Abuyog in Leyte, PAGASA said.

Yolanda was packing maximum sustained winds of 225 kph near the center, with gustiness of up to 260 kph.

The center of the typhoon was located at 453 kms southeast of Guiuan as of 6 p.m. Thursday and was moving west-northwest at 39 kph.

Public storm warning signal number 4 has been raised over the following areas:

• Eastern Samar
• Samar
• Leyte
• Southern Leyte
• Biliran
• extreme northern Cebu
• Bantayan Island
• Capiz
• Aklan
• Northern Antique

These areas will experience winds of more than 185 kph in at least 12 hours.

Public storm warning signal number 3 has been raised over the following areas:

• Masbate
• Ticao Island
• Sorsogon
• Romblon
• Calamian group of islands
• Antique
• Iloilo
• Guimaras
• Northern Negros Occidental
• Northern Negros Oriental
• Northern Cebu
• Cebu City
• Northern Samar
• Bohol
• Siargao Island
• Dinagat Province

Public storm warning signal number 2 is raised over the following areas:

• Albay,
• Burias Island,
• Marinduque,
• Mindoro provinces,
• Northern Palawan,
• rest of Negros Oriental,
• rest of Negros Occidental,
• rest of Cebu,
• Camiguin,
• Siquijor,
• Surigao del Norte,
• Surigao del Sur,
• Agusan del Norte.

Public storm warning signal number 1, meanwhile, is up over the following areas:

• Metro Manila,
• Camarines Norte,
• Camarines Sur,
• Catanduanes,
• Southern Quezon,
• Laguna,
• Rizal,
• Cavite,
• Batangas,
• Lubang Island,
• rest of Northern Palawan including Puerto Princesa, Bataan,
• Misamis Oriental,
• Agusan del Sur.

After making landfall, Yolanda is expected to pass over Leyte, Biliran, Northern Cebu, Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan, Romblon, Semirara Island, Southern Mindoro, and Busuanga.

It is expected to exit the Philippine landmass by early Saturday, towards the West Philippine Sea.

The typhoon is bringing heavy to intense rainfall within its 600-kilometer diameter.

The weather agency advised against any form of sea travel, while residents of low-lying and mountainous areas are alerted against possible flashfloods and landslides.

Those living in coastal areas are alerted against storm surges that may reach up to 7 meters high.

PAGASA's projected track of typhoon Yolanda

Rainfall alert

PAGASA also raised a heavy rainfall warning in several parts of the Visayas Thursday night.

An orange rainfall alert was hoisted over Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran, Bohol, and Camotes Island.

The weather bureau said flooding is a threat in low-lying communities in these areas, and landslides might occur in mountainous areas.

A yellow alert was also raised in Cebu and Siquijor.

"Flooding is possible in low lying areas and landslides in mountainous areas," PAGASA said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Medic Mike]

^{Waiting for ‘Yoly’}

 

 

 

 

^{By Godofredo M. Roperos}

^{Politics also}

^{Thursday, November 7, 2013}

^{NOT since I can remember had there been a time when our country’s inhabitants were made so aware, and become so alarmed, about the coming of a natural calamity as this present one that is expected today. Indeed, it is even predicted to make a land fall early this morning, if it has not yet done so.}

^{There had been many other natural calamities before, and most came without due warning, as if in stealth, and wrought havoc and destruction in its path.}

^{People in our island province still remember typhoon Ruping, one of the most destructive as those who had suffered through it remember. But I can only recall seeing the leafless trees and the leveled rice and corn fields along the way, from the Cebu City through the Naga-Toledo road to my hometown in Balamban.}

^{It was a bit weird to witness the landscape of green devastation I noted that day. My grandparents told me they saw the same destruction in the typhoon of 1912.}

^{The wait for the expected typhoon called Yolanda today should be taken as a significant advance in our use of the weather detection technology.}

^{Not that these tools for weather prediction is new to the knowledge of our technologists. It is just that, in the past, our weather men did not seem to see the need to use their knowledge to the advantage of our mass population like what they are doing for the present typhoon, where their warning is directed to the people in general.}

^{In the past, our weathermen issued warnings minus a deep sense of urgency. Yes, they released information to the media, which in turn took the news and treated it with the same urgency as the rest of the materials for the day.}

^{But the earthquake with the 7.2-magnitude that rocked the nation the other week, and hit Cebu and Bohol with unusual destruction, appeared to change our attitude towards calamities, especially since ancients churches that were unscathed before were toppled.}

^{Now, our weather technicians have suddenly sat up and took notice of the terror that bordered on panic which seized our people, a matter that did not distinguish whether one is poor or rich. In fact, it was those who lived in sophisticated and palatial homes that appeared most endangered.}

^{The temblor, indeed, was a leveling experience. And close on the heels of the nameless quake comes Yolanda who holds a promise being as destructive as the temblor.}

^{As I write this, our town’s leaders--from Mayor Ace Binghay--to the recently elected barangay leaders, have gone on to alert the people to prepare for Yolanda, urging them to vacate their homes of weak materials and move to safer buildings like schools and other public edifices}

^{This is something new to most of our people, being warned and having their security attended to by their town leaders. Suddenly, we are seeing local leaders who truly care--not for politics.}

^{While the heavy downpour outside has gone on for some time now, the waiting for “Yoly” appears to me as the beginning of a new era for the security of our people, sans politics.}

 

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Medic Mike]

^{World's strongest typhoon swirls towards Philippines}

 

^{:AFPPublished:7/11/2013at09:08 PM}

^{The most powerful typhoon of the year gained strength on Thursday as it swirled towards the Philippines, forcing mass evacuations, flight cancellations and school suspensions across the disaster-weary nation.}

^{President Benigno Aquino called on his countrymen to make all possible preparations for Typhoon Haiyan, which was generating wind gusts exceeding 330 kilometres (200 miles) an hour and set to hit on Friday morning.}

^{"To our local officials, your constituents are facing a serious peril. Let us do all we can while (Haiyan) has not yet hit land," Mr Aquino said in a nationally televised address.}

^{"We can minimise the effects of this typhoon if we help each other. Let us remain calm, especially in buying our primary needs, and in moving to safer places."}

^{Mr Aquino warned areas within the expected 600-kilometre typhoon front would be exposed to severe flooding as well as devastating winds, while coastal areas may see waves six metres high.}

^{Haiyan was expected make landfall on Samar island, about 600 kilometres southeast of Manila, then cut across the central and southern Philippines before exiting into the South China Sea late on Saturday.}

^{State weather forecaster Glaize Escullar said Haiyan was expected to hit areas still recovering from a devastating storm in 2011 and from a 7.1-magnitude quake last month.}

^{They include the central island of Bohol, the epicentre of the earthquake that killed 222 people, where at least 5,000 survivors are still living in tents while waiting for new homes.}

^{"The provincial governor has ordered local disaster officials to ensure that pre-emptive evacuations are done, both for those living in tents as well as those in flood-prone areas," Bohol provincial administrator Alfonso Damalerio said.}

^{Other vulnerable areas are the port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on the southern island of Mindanao, where flash floods induced by Tropical Storm Washi killed more than 1,000 people in December 2011.}

^{Authorities said evacuations were taking place in many other towns and villages in Haiyan's path, while schools were closed, ferry services suspended and fishermen ordered to secure their vessels.} 

^{Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and other carriers announced the suspension of hundreds of flights, mostly domestic but also some international.} 

^{Haiyan had maximum sustained winds on Thursday afternoon of 278 kilometres an hour, and gusts of 333 kilometres an hour, according to the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.}

^{This made it the world's strongest typhoon this year, according to David Michael Padua, a meteorologist with the Weather Philippines Foundation, a storm monitoring organisation that runs the www.weather.com.ph website.}

^{The Philippines is battered by an average of 20 major storms or typhoons each year, many of them deadly, but scientists have said climate change may be increasing their ferocity and frequency.}

^{The Philippines endured the world's strongest storm of 2012, when Typhoon Bopha left about 2,000 people dead or missing on Mindanao island in December.}

^{The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System, jointly run by the United Nations and the European Commission, said nearly 16 million people, including more than 12 million from the Philippines, were at risk from Haiyan.}

^{The others were in Laos and Vietnam, which are forecast to be hit on Sunday, it said on its website.}

^{"Haiyan can have a high humanitarian impact," it said.}

Edited November 7, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Medic Mike]

Latest Super Typhoon Location:

 

 

12:00 AM
08 November 2013 10.5°N, 127.6°E 210 km East Southeast of Guiuan, Eastern Samar

[bootleultras]

Take care everyone in the area, I know you've had a rough last month or so but stay strong and I wish you and all of your loved ones especially in the visayas/ Mindanao region a safe few days..... Hopefully we'll just have the tail end around Manila

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