One of the most powerful storms on record devastated the central
Philippines, reportedly killing more than 1,000 people, leveling homes
and leaving the airport in the hard-hit city of Tacloban in shambles.
The Philippine Red Cross told Reuters that it received reports
indicating at least 1,000 dead in Tacloban, about 360 miles southeast of
Manila, and 200 in Samar Provice.
"An estimated more than 1,000 bodies were seen floating in Tacloban
as reported by our Red Cross teams,'' Gwendolyn Pang, the secretary
general from the agency told Reuters. "In Samar, about 200 deaths.
Validation is ongoing."
With communications and roads still cut off, Capt. John Andrews,
deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the
Philippines, said he had received "reliable information" by radio from
his staff that more than 100 bodies were lying in the streets of
Tacloban on Leyte Island. It was one of five islands where Typhoon
Haiyan slammed Friday.
Regional military commander Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda said that the
casualty figure "probably will increase," after viewing aerial
photographs of the widespread devastation caused by the typhoon.
Civil aviation authorities in Tacloban reported that the seaside airport terminal was "ruined" by storm surges, Andrews said.
Television images showed residents of Tacloban wading through flooded
streets littered half-submerged cars, Reuters reported. Communications
networks and most roads were cut off after heavy flooding.
"Almost all houses were destroyed, many are totally damaged. Only a
few are left standing," Major Rey Balido, a spokesman for the national
disaster agency, told Reuters.
Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras, a senior aide to President Benigno
Aquino III, said that the number of casualties could not be immediately
determined, but that the figure was "probably in that range" given by
Andrews. Government troops were helping recover bodies, he said.
U.S. Marine Col. Mike Wylie, who surveyed the damage in Tacloban
prior to possible American assistance, said that the damage to the
runway was significant. Military planes were still able to land with
relief aid.
"The storm surge came in fairly high and there is significant
structural damage and trees blown over," he told the AP. Wylie is a
member of the U.S.-Philippines Military Assistance Group based in
Manila.
Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that America stood ready to help.
Joseph de la Cruz, who hitched a ride on a military plane from Tacloban back to Manila, said he had counted at least 15 bodies.
"A lot of the dead were scattered," he said, adding that he walked for about eight hours to reach the Tacloban airport.
The Philippine television station GMA reported its news team saw 11
bodies, including that of a child, washed ashore Friday and 20 more
bodies at a pier in Tacloban hours after the typhoon ripped through the
coastal city.
At least 20 more bodies were taken to a church in nearby Palo town
that was used as an evacuation center but had to be abandoned when its
roofs were blown away, the TV network reported. TV images showed howling
winds peeling off tin roof sheets during heavy rain.
Ferocious winds felled large branches and snapped coconut trees. A
man was shown carrying the body of his 6-year-old daughter who drowned,
and another image showed vehicles piled up in debris.
"I saw those big waves and immediately told my neighbors to flee. We
thought it was a tsunami," Floremil Mazo, a villager in southeastern
Davao Oriental province, told Reuters.
Nearly 800,000 people were forced to flee their homes and damage was
believed to be extensive. About 4 million people were affected by the
typhoon, the national disaster agency said.
Sourse: Foxnews
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