At least 500 people were injured and 56 were missing after Typhoon Rai swept through the south and center of the archipelago, according to police.
The Philippine Red Cross reported a “complete carnage” in the coastal areas hit by Rai, which destroyed houses, hospitals and schools.
More than 300,000 people abandoned their houses and beach hotels after the passage of Rai, leaving several areas without communications or electricity service, while in other places roofs were torn off and electricity poles were knocked down.
“Our situation is desperate,” said Ferry Asuncion, a street vendor in the storm-ravaged city of Surigao.
Arthur Yap, the governor of the island of Bohol, a popular tourist destination, reported that the fatalities on the island totaled 94.
In the Dinagat Islands, the spokesman for the provincial delegation, Jeffrey Crisostomo, told ABS-CBN that there are 14 other deaths.
The balance is likely to increase as government agencies begin to assess the totality of the disaster.
Typhoon Rai hit the Philippines on Thursday with winds of 195 km per hour and thousands of police, military, coast guards and firefighters are currently deployed to assist in search and rescue in the affected areas.
On Saturday the cyclone moved away moving through the South China Sea and on Sunday it was off the coast of Vietnam moving north.
Heavy machinery, such as backhoes and tractors, was used to help clear roads blocked by falling poles and trees.
An aerial assessment of the damage north of Bohol made it “very clear” that people have suffered a lot in terms of destroyed houses and agricultural losses, said Yap, who declared a state of emergency on the island.
For his part, Pope Francis at the end of his traditional Sunday Angelus prayer, expressed his “closeness to the people of the Philippines”, a majority Catholic country, adding that “the holy Child may bring comfort and hope to families with more difficulties. “, in reference to the approaching Christmas.
Destruction in Siargao, Dinagat and Mindanao
The typhoon also caused widespread destruction on the islands of Siargao, Dinagat and Mindanao.
Aerial images distributed by the military showed the damage in the town of General Luna, in Siargao, where there were many surfers and tourists before the Christmas period.
The images showed buildings without a roof and the floor covered in rubble.
This Sunday the tourists began to evacuate.
Dinagat Governor Arlene Bag-ao said on Saturday that the damage to the island “is reminiscent of similar or worse” than that caused by the 2013 super typhoon Haiyan.
Haiyan is the deadliest cyclone on record for the Philippines, with more than 7,300 people killed or missing.
“I saw typhoon Odette devastate the provincial capital,” Crisostomo told the DZBB station, using the local name for Rai.
“There were tables as big as a person that were blown away by the onslaught of the storm,” he said.
In Surigao City, in northern Mindanao, the streets were covered with broken glass, steel sheets from the roofs and power lines.
Rai’s winds dropped to 150 km per hour as it advanced across the country in torrential rains, uprooting trees and destroying wooden structures.
Rai hit the Philippines late in the typhoon season, as cyclones typically form between July and October.
Scientists have warned that typhoons are becoming more powerful and stronger faster as a result of climate change.
The Philippines is considered one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and receives about 20 typhoons and storms annually, some of devastating effects.
Source From: Ambito
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