On Friday, a MANILAA tropical storm swept over the mountainous north of the Philippines, intensifying over a week of severe weather that has resulted in at least 25 fatalities and forced the evacuation of villages affected by landslides and flooding.
Typhoon Co-may was the typhoon that blasted into the town of Agno in Pangasinan province on Thursday night. It had maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers (74 miles) per hour with gusts of up to 165 kilometers per hour (102 miles per hour). It had sustained winds of 85 kph (53 mph) on Friday afternoon and was waning as it moved northeast.
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Seasonal monsoon rains that had flooded a sizable portion of the nation for almost a week were getting worse in Co-May.
Since last weekend, at least 25 fatalities have been reported to disaster response officials, primarily as a result of electrocution, landslides, flash floods, and fallen trees. They stated eight more persons were reported missing.
The fifth weather disturbance to hit the Philippines since the rainy season began last month, Co-May, also known locally as Emong, did not immediately produce any reported deaths or injuries. Forecasters predicted that over a dozen other tropical storms would continue to lash the Southeast Asian nation for the remainder of the year.
The government stopped lessons in 35 provinces in Luzon’s main northern region and closed schools in downtown Manila for the third day on Friday. A state of calamity, which expedites emergency money and freezes the pricing of commodities, including rice, has been declared by more than 80 towns and cities, primarily in Luzon.
278,000 individuals have been forced to evacuate their houses due to the stormy weather in order to seek shelter in emergency shelters or at relatives’ homes. According to the government’s disaster response department, around 3,000 homes have sustained damage.
In the northern provinces under attack or in the path of the typhoon, air and marine travel has been prohibited.
To aid in the rescue of residents in communities submerged in floodwaters or cut off by roads obstructed by landslides, fallen trees, and rocks, thousands of army soldiers, police, coast guard members, firefighters, and citizen volunteers have been sent in.
The United States announced that it will give the U.N. World Food Programme $250,000 to support the Philippine government’s response. U.S. Ambassador MaryKay Carlson stated, “We are monitoring the destruction brought about by the floods and storms and are extremely worried for everyone impacted.”
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited emergency shelters in Rizal province on Thursday to assist in distributing food packets to displaced families following his return from a White House meeting with U.S. Later, he called an urgent conference with disaster response officials and emphasized the necessity for the public and government to prepare for and adjust to climate change and the more frequent and unpredictable natural disasters it is causing.
According to Marcos, everything has changed. What would happen if the storm did indeed arrive? since the storm will actually arrive.
According to the Philippine military, if the disaster gets worse, the United States, Manila, has promised to send military planes to airlift food and other help to isolated island provinces and the countryside.
Every year, the Philippines, which is sandwiched between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, is pounded. With over two dozen active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes, it is one of the most disaster-prone nations in the world.
