Super typhoon Goni slams into Philippines

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Update Time : Sunday, November 1, 2020
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A super typhoon barrelled into the Philippines’ main island of Luzon on Sunday, bringing “catastrophic” violent winds and intense rains with two landfalls so far, about a million people have been evacuated in its projected path, including in the capital where the main international airport was ordered closed.

Typhoon Goni is the world’s strongest storm so far this year, gaining further strength with 225kmh sustained winds and gusts of up to 310kmh.

The typhoon made landfall on Catanduanes Island at dawn with sustained winds of up to 225 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour) before heading westward. It was expected to move towards heavily populated regions including the capital, Manila, as well as provinces that are still reeling from a typhoon that hit last week, claiming at least 22 lives.

“Within the next 12 hours, catastrophic violent winds and intense to torrential rainfall associated with the region of the eyewall and inner rain bands of the typhoon will be experienced,” the Philippine weather agency said in an urgent advisory.

Senator Christopher Go, the top aide of President Rodrigo Duterte, told a virtual news conference that the storm could hamper efforts to contain the coronavirus.

“We are having a hard time with COVID-19, and then here comes another disaster,” he said, adding that local officials should ensure that the virus does not spread in evacuation centers.

Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the national disaster agency, told reporters that 1,000 COVID-19 patients — who are currently in large isolation tents in Manila and the nearby Bulacan province — could be shifted to hotels and hospitals.

The Philippines has the second-highest tally of COVID-19 infections and deaths in Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, another typhoon — Atsani — with sustained winds of up to 55 kph and gusts of up to 70 kph is also gaining strength just outside the Philippines.

The Philippines is lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms a year. It’s also located in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a seismically active region around the Pacific where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common and makes the impoverished Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 million people one of the world’s most disaster-prone.