MANILA: Filipinos cleared fallen trees and repaired damaged houses on Monday (Nov 18) after the sixth major storm to batter the Philippines in a month smashed flimsy buildings, knocked out power and claimed at least eight lives.
The national weather service had warned of a “potentially catastrophic” impact from Man-yi, which was a super typhoon when it hit over the weekend, but President Ferdinand Marcos said on Monday it “wasn’t as bad as we feared”.
Packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 185kmh, Man-yi slammed into Catanduanes island late on Saturday, and the main island of Luzon on Sunday afternoon.
It uprooted trees, brought down power lines, crushed wooden houses and triggered landslides, but did not cause serious flooding.
“Though Pepito was strong, the impact wasn’t as bad as we feared,” Marcos said, according to an official transcript of his remarks to the media, using the local name for Man-yi.
“We will now carry on with the rescue of those (in) isolated areas and the continuing relief for those who are, who have been displaced and have no means to prepare their own meals and have no water supplies,” Marcos said.
The death toll from the typhoon has risen to eight.
It includes a 79-year-old man who was killed in Camarines Norte after his motorbike was caught in a power line, police said.
Seven people died and three were injured when a landslide buried their house in Nueva Vizcaya province in Luzon, Kristine Falcon of the provincial disaster agency told AFP.
Power outages across the island province of Catanduanes could last for months after Man-yi toppled electricity poles, provincial information officer Camille Gianan told AFP.
“Catanduanes has been heavily damaged by that typhoon – we need food packs, hygiene kits and construction materials,” Gianan said.
“Most houses with light materials were flattened while some houses made of concrete had their roofs, doors and windows destroyed.”
