Posted on 12/20/2021 8:17:38 AM PST by BenLurkin
Typhoon Rai packed sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles) per hour with gusts of up to 270 kph (168 mph) before blowing out into the South China Sea on Friday.
At least 375 people were killed, 56 were missing and 500 were injured, according to the national police. The toll may still increase because several towns and villages remained out of reach due to downed communications and power outages, although massive cleanup and repair efforts were underway.
Many were killed by falling trees and collapsing walls, flash floods and landslides. A 57-year-old man was found dead hanging from a tree branch and a woman was blown away and died in Negros Occidental province, police said.
Governor Arlene Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands, among the southeastern provinces first hit by the typhoon, said Rai’s ferocity on her island province of more than 130,000 people was worse than that of Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful and deadliest typhoons on record which devastated the central Philippines in November 2013 but did not inflict any casualties in Dinagat.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
This hurricane is unfortunate - I was watching a vid last night which talked about how great the Philippines are for retirees ....
Massive destruction. This is the first I’ve seen, and it happened on Friday. The casualty numbers are a long way from all in yet. Horrible.
I have a colleague in Da Nang who feared this typhoon hitting the Vietnamese coast hard, but it seems to have stayed in the Philippines, which is good for my friend but bad for Filipinos.
Ironically enough, the one country that will probably provide the most aid is Japan, though I’m sure we won’t be far behind.
Been there several times with the military, love it. Looks great for retirement IMHO. Would be bad news if the Chinese stepped in to “help” with their version of predatory lending and support.
Prayers up. This is awful.
Rolled through the Visayas, Cebu took a gut punch.
~100 miles south in Iligan, and they just got rain and a little wind. Weird how storms can leave some places relatively untouched.
I experienced a typhoon in Danang in 1968. What a mess. Especially since there were so many refugees living in cobbled together shacks.
Thanks. On a thread the other night a couple of us FReepers told of relatives or in-laws we know experienced severe damage and we can’t contact due to power outages.
Prayers for the victims and everyone dealing with the aftermath.
in case you missed the article.
I hope you can get in contact with your loved ones soon. We got the rain, but not the wind. Most of the damage here, is from flooding. Internet, cell phone service, and ATM/credit card services, were all down for almost 2 days. I was finally able to use an ATM yesterday, so things are slowly getting back to normal. 👍
Thanks, my gf got in touch with them last night our time. Everyone ok including her very elderly mother but living room roof gone. Could have been much worse. They are 11 km south of Cebu City. Glad you have a working ATM. I don’t think they do yet.
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