Typhoon Fengshen
- Filed under: Uncategorized
- Date: Jun 22,2008
Navy and coast guard ships battled huge waves and strong winds Sunday to reach a stranded ferry carrying more than 740 people after Typhoon Fengshen battered the country killing 17.
Rescue vessels aborted an initial attempt Saturday to get to the MV Princess of Stars after it ran aground near Sibuyan island, but efforts resumed amid stormy weather Sunday, coast guard chief Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said.
Typhoon Fengshen lashed the central Philippines for about four hours Saturday, setting off landslides and floods, knocking out power, and blowing off roofs from houses.
Packing sustained winds of 74 miles per hour and gusts of up to 93 mph, the Typhoon Fengshen shifted course Sunday to the northwest and battered the capital Manila at dawn, chief government forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said. Typhoon Fengshen has killed 155 people in the Philippines in a torrent of flashfloods and landslides, the head of the Philippines Red Cross, Richard Gordon, told local radio on Sunday.
The death toll from the typhoon was earlier pegged at around 85. It could rise sharply after a ferry with more than 700 people on board capsized off an island in the central Philippines with few survivors found so far.
Typhoon “Fengshen”, locally called “Frank”, made landfall in east Philippine province of Samar on Friday afternoon and is moving northwest across the central Philippines, the state weather forecast bureau said.
Typhoon Fengshen is expected to move west northwest at 19 km per hour, with maximum winds of 140 kph and gustiness of up to 170 kph,the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services (PAGASA) said in its 5:00 p.m. bulletin.
The weather bureau said the Typhoon Fengshen is forecast to hover over the eastern part of Luzon island by Sunday afternoon.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered local governments to prepare for potential floods and landslides.
PAGASA earlier cautioned residents living in the low-land areas to keep vigilant against surging sea level and big waves.
Heavy rainfalls and strong winds in central Philippines forced Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to scrap a scheduled trip to Capiz province on Friday, local media reported.
PAGASA previously predicted that more than 20 cyclones to hit the Philippines this year, 14 of which will be intensified into typhoons.
Floods and landslides caused by tropical storms kill hundreds of people, sometimes thousands, in the Philippines every year.
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