Philippine DISASTER

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Bellisima
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Post by Bellisima » 09-28-2009 06:56 PM

Just read this.

MANILA, Philippines—Weather experts on Monday warned that a low pressure area sighted over the Pacific Ocean could develop into a typhoon and strike the Philippines later this week, as the death toll from the floods unleashed by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana) rose to 140, amid fears the casualty toll would climb further.

Full article here
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerhe ... -to-hit-RP

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Post by Saharaka » 09-29-2009 12:09 AM

Thanks for the update I was concerned about the Bell family. Also appreciate the audio link from Art's phone call. Here is an updated news story.....now projected 240 dead and a new storm on the way.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090929/ts_ ... _typhoon_5
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Post by Starrphyre » 10-01-2009 02:30 PM

Philippines Mobilizes Armed Forces for Second Storm in a Week

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... Yb5nCCYutA


By Aaron Sheldrick and Francisco Alcuaz Jr.

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The Philippines mobilized its armed forces as Supertyphoon Parma headed for the country, threatening more heavy rains a week after Tropical Storm Ketsana devastated parts of Manila in Luzon and left 277 people dead.

The Navy has assembled a task force in northern Luzon, where Philippine forecasters expect Parma to make landfall on Oct. 3, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo said in a phone interview. The Air Force will send trucks and rubber boats to facilitate evacuations when local officials request them, Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerardo Zamudio said.

Parma’s winds increased to 241 kilometers (150 miles) per hour today, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center, making it a Category 4 storm, the second-strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It’s forecast to get stronger before making landfall, according to the center.

The government “should prepare for the worst,” said Jose Bersales, emergency affairs director of World Vision Philippines, which is providing food and aid to 20,000 survivors of Ketsana.

The Philippines weather agency, which refers to Parma as Pepeng, raised its No. 1 storm signal for areas of southeastern Luzon today, meaning winds of between 30 and 60 kph are expected. A gale warning was issued for islands to the southeast of Luzon.

Parma was 516 kilometers east of the city of Tacloban at 2 p.m. local time, the U.S. center said. Tacloban is 575 kilometers southeast of Manila. Parma’s winds were gusting to 296 kph and waves near the eye are as high as 9 meters (29 feet), according to the U.S. center.

Catastrophic Damage

Navy forecasters designated Parma as a supertyphoon when its wind speed reached 240 kph. Its winds are forecast to strengthen to 259 kph by 2 p.m. tomorrow, making it a Category 5 storm, the strongest rating.

Such storms are capable of causing “catastrophic damage” and can blow roofs off residential and industrial buildings, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

The Navy’s five-day forecast indicates Parma will cross Luzon and head toward Taiwan, where more than 600 people were killed in August when Typhoon Morakot blew across the island.

To the east of Parma, Tropical Storm Melor strengthened to a typhoon with winds of 194 kph, according to the Navy center.

Melor was 809 kilometers east of the U.S. territory of Guam at 2 p.m. Manila time today, the typhoon center said. The storm was moving west-northwest at 17 kph.

The storm’s winds are forecast to strengthen to 213 kph within 24 hours. The Navy’s forecast track shows it crossing the island chain of Saipan north of Guam and heading toward the southern islands of Japan during the next five days.

Assessing Needs

The United Nations which is assessing needs before appealing for aid for damage from Tropical Storm Ketsana, said it is preparing for Parma. The children’s fund and World Food Program are stockpiling goods as well.

“All the UN agencies involved in the emergency response, including UNICEF and WFP, are gearing up and replenishing stocks of emergency supplies so that they can respond quickly to any intensification of the emergency,” UN resident coordinator Jacqui Baddock said in an e-mail. “Another onslaught of wind and rain will test many of the departments and agencies involved.”

Ketsana blew across Luzon on Sept. 26 dumping a month’s worth of rain in six hours and flooding most of Manila and surrounding areas.

Death Toll Rises

The death toll increased after reaching 246 yesterday, the Philippines disaster council said in its latest report today. More than 2.5 million people were affected by Ketsana and 686,699 are in evacuation centers. Forty-two people are missing.

The Philippine government has declared a “state of calamity” for the Manila metropolitan region and other parts of Luzon island as well as Mindoro island to the south.

“Pre-emptive evacuations will start with the local governments when there is certainty that it will hit,” Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told reporters in Manila yesterday.

Ketsana smashed into central Vietnam two days ago as a typhoon with winds of 167 kph, killing at least 92 people in the country. Nineteen people are missing.

The storm left at least 14 people dead in Cambodia after crossing Vietnam, Agence France-Presse reported today.

Ketsana is the name of a tree in Laos, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists names in use for Pacific storms on its Web site. Parma is the name of a ham and chicken dish in Macau.

To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at [email protected]; Francisco Alcuaz Jr. in Manila at [email protected].

Last Updated: October 1, 2009 05:20 EDT
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Post by goodfello » 10-02-2009 10:44 PM

Art, I am praying for you and the folks in the Philippine Islands. I just today sent a large check to the Red Cross to be used for the people of the Philippine Islands. My God that has to be terrifying. All the hurt and suffering. What a beautiful part of the world under so much agony. Bless you Art and your family. You and your extended Philippine family are in my prayers.

Take care


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Be well!

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Post by Linnea » 10-02-2009 11:34 PM

Bless you for your generosity and compassion, goodfello - well done.

Here is the latest from the Manila Bulletin Online:

Nation braces for super typhoon
By RIO ROSE RIBAYA . October 2, 2009, 6:03pm

Link

US Mil Nav Satellite (below)

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Post by Linnea » 10-02-2009 11:44 PM

The good news (if any of this can be considered good news) - for the Philippines, at least - is that Typhoon MELOR which had been tracking westward behind PARMA toward the Philippines, has now begun to turn northward toward Japan.

.

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Typhoon Parma hits Philippine coast

Post by Linnea » 10-03-2009 03:45 AM

...from AP News via Manilla Bulletin - Oct 3, 4:23 AM EDT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- The government's chief forecaster says Typhoon Parma has made landfall in the northern Philippines.

The storm toppled trees and power lines in at least two provinces with powerful winds and driving rain, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The head of the government weather bureau, Nathaniel Cruz, says the typhoon slammed into Cagayan province at mid afternoon Saturday.

Officials say the threat of another major flooding disaster in the capital has eased because Parma is tracking farther north than earlier predicted.

A Sept. 26 storm caused the worst flooding in the capital in 40 years and killed at least 288 people.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Link

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Impact of Typhoon Ketsana (Sept 26) Shocking

Post by Linnea » 10-03-2009 03:54 AM

...from Christian Today Oct 3rd, 2009

Philippines: Impact of typhoon ‘shocking’

World Vision says it is "shocked" by the extent of the devastation caused by Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines last week, where the homes of more than two million people have been damaged.

As another typhoon dumped heavy rain on the Philippines last night, World Vision staff said they were “shocked” by the devastation caused by Ketsana less than a week ago.

The Philippines had feared that Typhoon Parma would wreak further havoc in areas still recovering from Ketsana, which deluged Manila and neighbouring provinces in a month’s worth of rain in less than seven hours and killed more than 250 people before displacing 200,000 people in Vietnam.

Authorities in the Philippines said Parma had weakened before making landfall but was continuing to drop heavy rain on the main island of Luzon on Saturday.

World Vision says it needs $2 million to help survivors of Ketsana. It is already working with the Philippine Coast Guard to distribute aid and emergency response teams are being assembled to bring food and other relief items to nearly 100,000 people in Manila, many of whom have lost their homes.

"The impact of this typhoon on Manila has been shocking," said Elnora Avarientos, World Vision's national director in the Philippines. "Many have lost everything, including bedding, food, education materials, and clothing. The poorest living in slums and settlements are especially badly hit."

World Vision said some of its own staff had been hit by the floods, with some fleeing the surging waters to take shelter at the World Vision office and 25 employees receiving emergency aid from the organisation.

"Houses were flooded in just a few minutes, so people were not able to bring their belongings or food into evacuation centres," said Boy Bersales, World Vision's emergency affairs director. "Others waited on their rooftops to be rescued."

Link

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Post by Linnea » 10-03-2009 04:13 AM

AP Update:

Oct 3, 5:03 AM EDT
2nd storm slams into northern Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Typhoon Parma slammed into the Philippines on Saturday, knocking down trees and power pylons with powerful winds and pelting the already sodden country with more heavy rain. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The storm - the country's second in eight days - roared ashore in the northern province of Cagayan at mid afternoon after picking up speed as it swirled toward the coast, said chief government forecaster Nathaniel Cruz.

It was cutting a path across the northeastern tip of the main island of Luzon and was headed in the direction of Taiwan, where evacuations of southern villages were under way.

Tens of thousands of people were moved to safe ground across the Philippines ahead of the typhoon, which came on the heels of another storm on Sept. 26 that killed at least 288 people in the worst flooding in four decades in the Southeast Asian country.

But Parma was not expected to cause as much damage as the earlier storm, Ketsana. It changed course overnight Friday and largely bypassed Manila, the capital, which in many parts was still under chest-deep water.

Trees were uprooted and power poles toppled in the provincial capital of Tuguegarao, Cagayan local government official Bonifacio Cuarteros told The Associated Press by telephone. In neighboring Isabella, gusting winds knocked a rider off his motorcycle, and trees and billboards were blown down.

"We pray that we won't have a worse outcome, but with this kind of situation, we cannot really say," Cuarteros said.

Parma was packing sustained winds of 108 mph (175 kph) and heavy rain, the national weather bureau said.

Weather bureau chief Prisco Nilo warned that the rain could trigger landslides and flooding, and strong winds could also create tidal surges "similar to a tsunami" along the eastern coast.

---

Associated Press writers Oliver Teves in Manila and Debby Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.

Link

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Post by Linnea » 10-03-2009 02:26 PM

AP update via Manila Bulletin:

Oct 3, 2:49 PM EDT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Typhoon Parma cut a path across the Philippines' northern edge on Saturday, killing four people but sparing the capital from a second flood disaster as the storm churned toward Taiwan.

Tens of thousands of Filipinos had evacuated their homes as the storm bore down on the main island of Luzon just eight days after an earlier tempest left Manila awash in floods that killed almost 300 people.

Also helping to reduce the damage, Parma weakened slightly and changed course overnight Friday so that it missed central Luzon and clipped the more sparsely populated and mountainous north.

Still, winds of 108 mph (175 kph) battered towns in at least two provinces and pelted the northeast of the country with downpours that swelled rivers to bursting, toppled power pylons and trees, and cut communication lines to outlying towns, officials said.

Parma was heading northwest toward Taiwan, which declared a storm warning Saturday and began evacuating villages in southern Kaohsiung county, where 700 people were killed in a typhoon in August.

"The typhoon could bring torrential rain and trigger flash flooding, so government agencies should be prepared," Vice Premier Eric Chu was quoted as saying by the government-owned Central News Agency.

In the Philippines' hard-hit Isabela province, one man drowned and another died from exposure to the cold and wet weather, said Lt. Col. Loreto Magundayao of an army division based there.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said another two people died from the storm in the eastern province of Camarines Sur - one man fell from a roof and a two-year-old boy drowned.

Parma hit the coast mid-afternoon Saturday, and local officials said the true extent of damage would not be known until communications were restored with outlying areas on Sunday or later.

"The damage is quite heavy," Roberto Damian, the police chief of Cagayan province, told ABS-CBN television. "We are clearing highways and roads to reach people calling for rescue."

In Ilagan, Isabela's capital, the swollen Cagayan River rose enough to swamp two bridges, officials said. In the Cagayan city of Tuguegarao, telephone landlines were down and mobile services were intermittent, said Chito Castro, regional director for the Office of Civil Defense.

Ahead of the storm, weather bureau chief Prisco Nilo warned that heavy rain could trigger landslides and flooding, and strong winds could create tidal surges along the eastern coast. None of those conditions were reported by Saturday night.

Manila escaped the worst of the storm. On Sept. 26, Tropical Storm Ketsana caused the worst flooding in four decades, killing at least 288 people and damaging the homes of 3 million.

Rain fell in the city most of Saturday, and stiff gusts of winds blew, but no new flooding or damage was immediately reported.

Even before the storm hit, officials in eastern provinces judged they were no longer in danger and began moving back people who had been evacuated from coastal areas that might have been in the path of the storm.

After devastating parts of Manila, Ketsana went on to hit other Southeast Asian countries, killing 99 in Vietnam, 14 in Cambodia and 16 in Laos.

Parma was part of more than a week of destruction in the Asia-Pacific region that has claimed more than 1,500 lives so far: an earthquake Wednesday in Indonesia; a tsunami Tuesday in the Samoan islands, and Ketsana.

Another typhoon, Melor, was churning in the Philippine Sea, 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers) to the east, threatening the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Most businesses there were shut Saturday morning, and residents of the island of Saipan who don't live in concrete homes moved to typhoon shelters, said Charles Reyes, Northern Marianas Gov. Benigno Fitial's press secretary.

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Post by pattiwacki » 10-04-2009 11:31 AM

Art, just heard your call to Ian's show-I am praying still for the safety of your family and all there and that your family and friends will have all you need while food and supplies are scarce.
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Latest Update

Post by Linnea » 10-04-2009 08:21 PM

...from Manila Bulletin/AP:

Oct 4, 2:44 PM EDT

Latest typhoon kills 16 in northern Philippines

Manila, Philippines (AP) -- Typhoon Parma caused widespread flooding and landslides that buried at least two families in the Philippines, then hung threateningly off the coast Sunday drenching the country's north as well as Taiwan.

At least 16 people died when Parma hit the main island of Luzon on Saturday, though the capital, Manila - still awash in floodwaters from a storm barely a week earlier - was spared a new disaster.

In Benguet province, a family of five, including a 1-year-old boy, died when their home was buried in a landslide, local police Senior Superintendent Loreto Espineli told The Associated Press. Seven people, including another family of five, were buried in a nearby village, he said.

Four also died in other provinces, most of them drowning after being swept away by floodwaters, officials said.

Parma headed northwest into the South China Sea after passing over the Philippines, but its movement slowed to about 6 miles per hour (10 kilometers per hour) and hooked back toward the country as it began to interact with Typhoon Melor, a storm over the north Pacific Ocean that is pushing west, said chief government forecaster Nathaniel Cruz.

It was not expected to hit the Philippine coast again, but was likely to hover in an area around 60 miles (100 kilometers) away and could cause heavy rain for the next three days, Cruz said.

The storm was close enough to Taiwan to cause heavy rain on the island, where troops were evacuating some villages and loading sandbags in preparation for possible flooding.

In southern Taiwan, roads were clogged with military trucks and cars taking villagers away from their flood- and mudslide-prone mountain homes.

Television stations showed soldiers making sandbags, using mud that piled up at riverbeds during a deadly typhoon last month. The military said armored personnel carriers were made ready for rescuing villagers in the event of massive flooding.

The Central Weather Bureau said Parma would likely miss the island but heavy rains could still cause major problems.

Parma hit the Philippines just eight days after an earlier storm left Manila awash in the worst flooding in four decades, killing almost 300 people. Saturday's storm dropped more rain on the capital that slowed the cleanup and made conditions more miserable.

"I hope it won't return," said National Disaster Coordinating Council Chief Gilbert Teodoro, after flying over the area stricken by Parma in a helicopter Sunday. "We still need to do pre-emptive evacuations in that case, until there is no more danger."

He said he could see knee- and waist-high flooding in many areas.

Tens of thousands of Filipinos fled to higher ground before Parma hit, packing winds of 108 miles per hour (175 kilometers per hour) and driving rain. Towns in a dozen provinces were battered, landslides cut bridges and downpours swelled rivers, officials said.

About 14 farming villages at the mouth of the Cagayan River were flooded when it overflowed, forcing some residents to clamber onto their roofs, Mayor Ismael Tumaru of nearby Aparri town told AP by mobile phone.

Philippine navy, coast guard and police rescuers plucked many villagers to safety, he said. Others were huddled in buildings on higher ground, stranded by floodwaters but safe for the moment, he said.

"We're like at sea," Tumaru said as he inspected an inundated village by boat. "This used to be a rice field with roads and power posts. Now, it's just water everywhere."

Power, phone lines and internet links were down across the north, making it difficult to get reports about the extent of damage, said Armand Araneta, an official for several northern provinces.

"We really got the brunt of the wind," he said by phone from Tuguegarao city, capital of Cagayan province. "Many trees fell here. The winds knocked down cables, telephone lines - even our windows got shattered by the strong winds."

On Sept. 26, Tropical Storm Ketsana killed at least 288 people and damaged the homes of 3 million in the Philippines before striking other Southeast Asian nations, killing 162 in Vietnam, 18 in Cambodia and at least 16 in Laos.

Parma came during a week of destruction in the Asia-Pacific region that included Ketsana, an earthquake in Indonesia and a tsunami in the Samoan islands.

---

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Post by Joolz » 10-04-2009 09:57 PM

pattiwacki wrote: Art, just heard your call to Ian's show...

I missed Ian's show this week, so didn't hear Art's call-in. Can anyone at least sort of sum up what Art had to say about what's going on over there?
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SETIsLady
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Post by SETIsLady » 10-04-2009 10:31 PM

Art I am praying for you and your family

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Art's Calls

Post by Linnea » 10-05-2009 12:00 PM

Joolz - you can listen to Art's calls at this link:

http://www.kingdomofnye.com/nn/krax/krax99.html

Shirley made these recordings available from links here in this thread earlier.

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