peggygee
12-01-2006, 12:15 PM
Typhoon Durian hits central Philippines
Reming left at least 109 deaths, dozens more missing (2 p.m.)
MANILA (Updated) -- The fourth devastating super typhoon in as many months battered the Philippines, setting off a volcanic mudslide and widespread flooding that killed at least 109 people and left dozens more missing, officials said Friday.
Glen Rabonza, head of the national Office of Civil Defense, said 200 body bags were being shipped to the disaster zone at the request of provincial officials. With power and phone lines downed by powerful winds, helicopters were carrying out aerial surveillance of cut-off areas.
"Our rescue teams are overstretched rescuing people on rooftops," Rabonza said after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was briefed on the storm's aftermath.
Fernando Gonzales, governor of badly hit Albay province, said 108 bodies had been found but that recovery operations were continuing. The figure did not include at least one person killed in adjacent Camarines Sur province, which reported that its capital was flattened.
Undersecretary Dr. Graciano Yumul of the Department of Science and Technology said the storm was particularly damaging because wind gusts hit 265 kmph (165 mph) when Typhoon Durian 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.
At least 20 bodies were recovered from the village of Padang, which was hit by a mudslide of volcanic debris on the foot of the Mayon volcano, said Noel Rosal, mayor of Legazpi city, Albay province's capital.
Rosal said about 30 people were injured by boulders and roofing materials in Padang and taken to hospitals.
"It's terrible," he told The Associated Press by phone after visiting the village Friday. "Based on our interviews with residents and village officials, more than 100 were killed or missing."
Rosal said some victims had their clothes ripped off as they were swept away by the mudslide.
"We now call this place a black desert," he said, referring to the color of the volcanic debris.
Mayon erupted in July, depositing millions of tons of rocks and volcanic ash on its slopes. Rains from succeeding typhoons that hit the area earlier may have loosened the materials.
Rosal 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.
He said some boulders were as big as cars.
Rosal said Padang can only be reached by foot or motorcycle because a bridge linking it to Legazpi, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) away, was damaged.
He said the mudslide occurred at mid-afternoon Thursday as the city was lashed by Typhoon Durian. His own residence was under water that was "higher than a person" from a flashflood.
"I was almost a goner. I had to swim," Rosal said.
Jukes Nunez of the Albay Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council said many communities in Legazpi were still flooded Friday morning.
"The request for rescue is overwhelming. The disaster managers are victims themselves," he said.
The typhoon weakened Friday as it moved north of Mindoro island south of Manila with sustained winds of 150 kph (94 mph) and gusts of up to 185 kph (116 mph) as it headed toward the South China Sea.
Reming left at least 109 deaths, dozens more missing (2 p.m.)
MANILA (Updated) -- The fourth devastating super typhoon in as many months battered the Philippines, setting off a volcanic mudslide and widespread flooding that killed at least 109 people and left dozens more missing, officials said Friday.
Glen Rabonza, head of the national Office of Civil Defense, said 200 body bags were being shipped to the disaster zone at the request of provincial officials. With power and phone lines downed by powerful winds, helicopters were carrying out aerial surveillance of cut-off areas.
"Our rescue teams are overstretched rescuing people on rooftops," Rabonza said after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was briefed on the storm's aftermath.
Fernando Gonzales, governor of badly hit Albay province, said 108 bodies had been found but that recovery operations were continuing. The figure did not include at least one person killed in adjacent Camarines Sur province, which reported that its capital was flattened.
Undersecretary Dr. Graciano Yumul of the Department of Science and Technology said the storm was particularly damaging because wind gusts hit 265 kmph (165 mph) when Typhoon Durian 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.
At least 20 bodies were recovered from the village of Padang, which was hit by a mudslide of volcanic debris on the foot of the Mayon volcano, said Noel Rosal, mayor of Legazpi city, Albay province's capital.
Rosal said about 30 people were injured by boulders and roofing materials in Padang and taken to hospitals.
"It's terrible," he told The Associated Press by phone after visiting the village Friday. "Based on our interviews with residents and village officials, more than 100 were killed or missing."
Rosal said some victims had their clothes ripped off as they were swept away by the mudslide.
"We now call this place a black desert," he said, referring to the color of the volcanic debris.
Mayon erupted in July, depositing millions of tons of rocks and volcanic ash on its slopes. Rains from succeeding typhoons that hit the area earlier may have loosened the materials.
Rosal 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.
He said some boulders were as big as cars.
Rosal said Padang can only be reached by foot or motorcycle because a bridge linking it to Legazpi, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) away, was damaged.
He said the mudslide occurred at mid-afternoon Thursday as the city was lashed by Typhoon Durian. His own residence was under water that was "higher than a person" from a flashflood.
"I was almost a goner. I had to swim," Rosal said.
Jukes Nunez of the Albay Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council said many communities in Legazpi were still flooded Friday morning.
"The request for rescue is overwhelming. The disaster managers are victims themselves," he said.
The typhoon weakened Friday as it moved north of Mindoro island south of Manila with sustained winds of 150 kph (94 mph) and gusts of up to 185 kph (116 mph) as it headed toward the South China Sea.