02:01
Typhoon Goni, Philippines’ strongest storm of 2020, kills at least 10 people
Typhoon Goni: ‘strongest storm’ this year heads for Vietnam after tearing across Philippines
- The storm, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane, killed at least 20, but 1.07 million tonnes of rice was saved thanks to an early warning
- The previous record for strongest landfalling tropical cyclones was held by Super Typhoons Meranti and Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2016 and 2013
Health Secretary Francisco Duque, in a televised briefing, asked local officials to ensure social distancing measures are in place in evacuation centres.
Philippines evacuates thousands in Luzon’s south ahead of Typhoon Goni
“Goni is the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone” in history, said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist with Yale Climate Connections and co-founder of Weather Underground.
The previous record was held by Super Typhoons Meranti and Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2016 and 2013, respectively. Goni is the world’s third Category 5 storm this year, he said on Yale Climate Connections’ website.
Most of the fatalities were in Albay and Catanduanes provinces south of Manila, some of them swept away by raging waters, according to the region’s disaster risk-monitoring agency.
More than 65 per cent of homes in Catanduanes, the province of 275,000 people where Goni made landfall, were damaged and electricity and telecommunication lines are still down, Governor Joseph Cua said in a briefing.
Thirty-three airports, including Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, were cleared to resume flights at 10am on Monday.
The storm damaged 1.1 billion pesos (US$23 million) worth of crops and affected the livelihood of 20,000 farmers, adding to the almost 2 billion pesos in damage when Typhoon Molave hit the country last week.
Despite Sunday’s devastation, more than 242,000 hectares of land planted with rice and with equivalent production of 1.07 million tonnes have been saved thanks to early warning systems, the Department of Agriculture said in a statement on Sunday.
“The pandemic has made this much more complex, but we have been preparing for this situation,” Gordon, the Philippine Red Cross chairman, said in a statement.
02:23
Typhoon Molave brings death and severe damage as one of Vietnam’s worst storms in 20 years
Goni moved away from the main Luzon Island Sunday night. Another storm, Atsani, may make landfall in the Philippines later this week, the weather bureau said.
The cyclone comes days after Typhoon Molave lashed the Southeast Asian nation, leaving at least 22 dead and causing a minimum of 1.8 billion pesos of damage to crops, before heading to Vietnam. Goni is following a similar route.
At least 10 killed as powerful Typhoon Goni lashes Philippines
An average of 20 cyclones pass through disaster-prone Philippines every year, which is likely to complicate the nation’s fight against the coronavirus as thousands of people stay in cramped evacuation sites.
“Super Typhoon Goni brings back memories of the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan,” 350.org Asia Regional Director Norly Mercado said. “In Asia, we are no stranger to intense tropical storms, but now we face a dual threat with Covid-19 and climate change.”
“The damage is extensive,” Christopher Dy-Liacco Flores, former mayor of Guinobatan town in Albay, said by Facebook Messenger. Flooding reached 16 feet deep.
“Bridges have been washed away, flood control structures destroyed. Electric poles have fallen, roads destroyed and our agriculture is ruined.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
