Typhoon Melor has ripped through the central Philippines, bringing heavy rain and strong winds that left at least four people dead and millions without power, officials say.
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The Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control on Tuesday issued a notice to officials in cities and provinces from Da Nang to Ca Mau and the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Defense, Transport, and Foreign Affairs to apply measures to respond to Typhoon Melor, the Vietnam News Agency reported.
Christmas lanterns and lights, tin roofs and branches littered the streets of Legazpi City, which was battered by strong winds.
The coasts of Samar Island, the peninsula of Bicol in Luzon, the Romblon Islands, with over all at least 8 million inhabitant, are now in the eye of the storm, which this year surpassed the usual twenty extending the typhoon season and their general intensity.
– Nearly 725,000 people were forced to evacuate from their at-risk residential areas with projections of heavy rain and coastal floods of up to 13 feet high as Typhoon Melor made landfall in the eastern Philippines on Monday, causing classes, flights and ferry trips to be suspended. “No school, no work”, Albay governor Joey Salceda was quoted as saying.
Gusts weakened on December 15 morning but were still recorded at 170 kilometres per hour from 185 kilometres per hour a day earlier.
“It may take three to four months to restore power in the province after power lines and electricity posts were toppled by strong winds”, Baldo said.
Millions of people were also without power in the eastern Philippines and the central islands, with no guarantees electricity would be restored before Christmas.
Aldczar Aurelio, PAGASA weather forecaster, told PNA that Melor is set to exit Mindoro in the afternoon as it moves toward the West Philippine Sea – the name Filipinos use for the South China Sea.
As Melor makes its way across the Philippines another weather system is being monitored east of the southern island of Mindanao in case it forms into a typhoon.
Typhoons in the Philippines are common, about 20 per year. In October, Typhoon Koppu carved through north Philippines, killing 54 people and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes.
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In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan flattened entire communities in the central region with tsunami-like waves, leaving 7,350 people dead or missing.
