UPDATE-
Super typhoon Bopha struck the Philippines at about 18:00 GMT on 3 December.
Tue, 4 Dec 2012 02:52 GMT- Alertnet News
Source: Content partner // Tropical Storm Risk
Super typhoon Bopha struck the Philippines at about 18:00 GMT on 3 December.Data supplied by the US Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Centersuggest that the point of landfall was near7.5 N,127.2 E.Bopha brought 1-minute maximum sustained winds to the region of around 259 km/h (161 mph).Wind gusts in the area may have been considerably higher.
According to the Saffir-Simpson damage scale the potential property damage and flooding from a storm ofBopha'sstrength (category 5)at landfall includes:
- Storm surge generally greater than 5.5 metres (18 feet) above normal.
- Complete roof failure on many residences and industrial buildings.
- Some complete building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away.
- All shrubs, trees, and signs blown down.
- Complete destruction of mobile homes.
- Severe and extensive window and door damage.
- Low-lying escape routes are cut by rising water 3-5 hours before arrival of the centre of the storm.
- Major damage to lower floors of all structures located less than 4.6 metres (15 feet) above sea level and within 460 metres (500 yards) of the shoreline.
- Massive evacuation of residential areas on low ground within 8-16 km miles (5-10 miles) of the shoreline may be required.
There is also the potential for flooding further inland due to heavy rain.
The information above is provided for guidance only and should not be used to make life or death decisions or decisions relating to property. Anyone in the region who is concerned for their personal safety or property should contact their official national weather agency or warning centre for advice.
Typhoon Bopha Smashes into Philippines
The Sun Daily, 4 December 2012 - 10:58am
Last updated on 4 December 2012 - 11:04am
Workers clear a road with a fallen tree after Typhoon Bophal hit the city of Tagum,
Davao del Norter province, on the southern island of Mindanao on Dec 4, 2012. AFP
MANILA (Dec 4, 2012): Typhoon Bopha smashed into the southern Philippines Tuesday, uprooting trees and bringing drenching rains as more than 40,000 people crammed into shelters to escape the storm's onslaught.
Bopha -- packing gusts of up to 210 kilometres (130 miles) an hour -- made landfall on Mindanao's east coast at dawn, raking across the island of 10 million people.
It uprooted trees and blew off roofs made of light materials, according to residents and AFP reporters on the ground, with cities plunged into darkness after authorities cut power supplies.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or serious damage but the island was in lockdown, with residents of coastal and flood-prone areas moving into shelters as floods hit some areas.
Aviation and shipping were suspended, with 80 flights grounded and thousands of ferry passengers stranded as the coastguard ordered vessels to stay in port, the civil defence office said.
More than 41,000 people had moved into nearly 1,000 government shelters across the island by early Tuesday, it said in its latest bulletin.
Large parts of Mindanao were without power after supplies were shut down to cut the risk of fires and electrocutions, according to Liza Mazo, regional civil defence official.
"Power was lost before dawn. There were reports of powerful winds, high waves and possible storm surge threatening some coastal areas," she said.
"We are hoping and praying that there will be no casualties."
People living in the storm-hit area braced for the worst of the typhoon, the strongest cyclone to hit the Philippines this year.
"We have taken our pigs and chickens inside our house because their shed might be destroyed," 46-year-old shopkeeper Marianita Villamor of San Fermin town on Mindanao's east coast told AFP by telephone.
"The winds were howling and I could hear the trees falling to the ground since early this morning."
Villamor said her relatives who lived in a nearby coastal area had joined hundreds of other families who moved into temporary shelters including schools and other government buildings late Monday.
"I have not heard from then since because (mobile phone) signals have been on and off," she said. "I hope they are dry and safe."
The commercial centre of Cagayan de Oro, one of Mindanao's largest cities, was hit by flooding as rivers overflowed following heavy rain.
Schools were shut in Mindanao and across large areas of the central Philippines.
President Benigno Aquino led calls for evacuations on Monday, saying: "(Bopha's) destructive potential is no laughing matter. It is expected to be the strongest typhoon to hit our country in 2012."
The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons a year, some of them destructive. Bopha is the sixteenth so far this year.
In August, nearly 100 people were killed and more than a million were displaced by heavy flooding caused by a series of storms.
Nineteen typhoons struck the country last year, of which 10 were destructive, leading to more than 1,500 deaths and affecting nearly 10 percent of the total population, according to the government. –
AFP