The storm moved in from the Pacific Ocean and struck remote fishing communities on Samar island on Saturday night, but weakened from 210km to 165km an hour as it continued its path through the country on Sunday.
The wind strength made Hagupit the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines this year, exceeding a typhoon in July that killed more than 100 people.
In a span of just 24 hours, the storm brought 396mm of rain, which is equivalent to half a month of precipitation.
Two people, including a baby girl, died of hypothermia in central Iloilo province at the height of the typhoon, officials said.
Another person died after being hit by a falling tree in the eastern town of Dolores, where the typhoon first made landfall, according to Mar Roxas, interior secretary.
Two women were injured when the tricycle taxi they were riding was struck by a falling tree in central Negros Oriental province.
"Tin roofs are flying off, trees are falling and there is some flooding," Stephany Uy-Tan, the mayor of Catbalogan, a major city on Samar, told AFP news agency.
According to reports from news agencies and local media, close to a million people had fled to shelters in areas along the path of the typhoon.
So far, the provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur and Masbate have declared emergency.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Thomas, reporting from the capital Manila, said that the storm had made another landfall in the central island of Masbate, but had slightly weakened as it moved northwest.
Witnesses in Masbate told him that roads had been blocked from typhoon debris, making it difficult to deliver food packages to evacuees.
Lessons of Haiyan
In a statement to Al Jazeera, the UN office in Manila said the humanitarian needs in the Philippines would not be fully known until Hagupit passed over.
Fearful of a repeat of last year when Supertyphoon Haiyan claimed more than 7,350 lives, the government launched a massive evacuation effort to provide shelter to people in the path of Hagupit.
"The government is absolutely determined to do this better," Al Jazeera's Thomas said............................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/12/typhoon-tears-into-disaster-weary-philippines-201412713344420641.html
7/12/4
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Related:
Philippines avoids heavy casualties as typhoon passes ..
ReplyDeleteTyphoon Hagupit made its way slowly across the central Philippines Sunday, having knocked down power lines, trees and wooden buildings but causing few casualties, local media reported.
The country’s disaster management agency said there had been no deaths early Sunday but Radio DZBB reported a child had died at an evacuation center in Iloilo.
News website Inquirer.net reported a 75-year-old woman drowned in Catarman town, Northern Samar, citing a local disaster risk officer.
However, the typhoon, known locally as Ruby, was not as savage as last year’s Typhoon Yolanda, which left more than 6,300 dead with a further 1,000 still missing.
Early evacuation of low-lying villages and areas prone to landslides, as well as Hagupit’s weakening strength as it reached the Philippines, kept the casualty toll to a minimum.................http://www.aa.com.tr/en/news/431790--philippines-avoids-heavy-casualties-as-typhoon-passes
7/12/13
Relief in Philippines as typhoon weakens, leaving just four dead ...
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos returned on Monday to homes battered by a powerful typhoon, amid relief in a nation where thousands were killed by a super storm last year that a massive evacuation operation appeared to have minimized fatalities.
The death toll from Typhoon Hagupit stood at four on Monday, after more than a million people took shelter in evacuation centers across the central belt of the archipelago over the weekend to escape the fury of the Category 3 storm.
A year ago, Category 5 "super typhoon" Haiyan tore through the central Philippines leaving more than 7,000 dead or missing. This time the authorities took no chances and evacuated whole towns and villages in coastal and landslide prone areas..............http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/08/us-philippines-typhoon-idUSKBN0JM04420141208?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
At least 21 dead as typhoon hits Philippines ...
ReplyDeleteAt least 21 people were reported dead, many of them drowned as flood waters rose in Borongan, the main town in Eastern Samar, where typhoon Hagupit made first landfall, the Philippine National Red Cross said this morning.
The Philippines had evacuated more than a million people as the powerful typhoon approached the country from the Pacific.
They feared a repeat of last year, when Category 5 "super typhoon" Haiyan tore through the central Philippines leaving more than 7,000 dead or missing.
"We have confirmed reports that 21 people died in Eastern Samar, 16 of them in Borongan," said Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the Philippine National Red Cross this morning.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Manila confirmed only two dead and three injured............http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/1208/665295-filipinos-return-to-homes-as-typhoon-passes/
8/12/14
Philippines emergency response to Hagupit hailed...
ReplyDeleteThe capital of the Philippines on Monday (Dec 8) appeared to have dodged massive disruption from a major storm downgraded from Typhoon Hagupit that hit at the weekend that killed at least 23 people, but emergency services mobilized were highly prepared, according to Singapore-based aid workers.
The toll and damage from this typhoon was a far cry from last year's Typhoon Haiyan that claimed some 7,000 lives. A Singapore team under SEED, or Swift Emergency Evaluation Deployment, observed plenty of rain but no widespread damage on its journey from Gumaca town to Manila in the north and is now in the capital city to assist emergency services firm Pilipinas 911.
The organization is preparing for possible floods, and will assess if further humanitarian aid is needed, but so far the capital is coping well. "In terms of information or need-assessment I think, this time round, Philippine people and government are well prepared, I think the need-assessment portion is not as critical," said Ng Sin Tan, a team leader with SEED, told Channel NewsAsia.............http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/philippines-emergency/1518460.html
8/12/14
The Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported Wednesday that a total of 2.4 million people have been affected by typhoon Ruby (Hagupit) in the Philippines....
ReplyDeleteAlmost 2.4 million people have been affected by typhoon Ruby (Hagupit) in the Philippines, the country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Wednesday.
"A total of 532,887 families / 2,392,593 persons were affected," NDRRMC said in an update on its website.
The update added that a total of 604 passengers and 13 vessels were still stranded as of December 10 because of the bad weather conditions. Nine people were reported dead by the council............Read more: http://indian.ruvr.ru/2014_12_10/281097467/
10/12/14