Was a strong Cat 4. Nasty with potentially a few thousand lost due to flooding, but not the worst ever. The faulty reported astronomical wind speed was taken from a satellite and measured in the upper regions of the storm. Not near ground level. For some stupid reason the MSM ran with the faulty wind speed. The Philippine government reported top wind speed of 147 mph. Most places hit hard experienced 100 mph winds. The 147 mph was most intense average wind speed at landfall.
Two latest published estimates I’ve seen are 10,000 and 12,000 dead. More than a “few thousand”.
At 870 to 885 mb, I’m willing to believe the measured winds aloft while offshore was correct, considering it was averaged over a very short period of time and unobstructed by land.