MANILA, Nov 2 (NNN-PNA) – 22 people were killed and many others missing, after Typhoon Goni swept across south of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon Sunday, the Office of Civil Defence (OCD) said.
The OCD in Bicol, one of the hardest-hit southernmost regions of Luzon, said, nine died in Albay province and one in Catanduanes island, where the super typhoon made landfall yesterday.
Three other people in Guinobatan town in Albay province were reported missing, the OCD said.
According to the OCD, Typhoon Goni displaced over 390,000 people. More than 345,000 of the displaced were staying in government evacuation centres, it added.
Goni was a “super typhoon” when it first made landfall, packing maximum sustained winds of 225 km per hour near the centre and gustiness of up to 310 km per hour. It triggered flash floods and mudslides in the Bicol region, and left a trail of destruction in 12 out of the 17 regions in the Philippines.
It was downgraded a few hours later, as it swept westward across Luzon, at a speed of 25 km per hour. It is forecast to weaken further to a severe tropical storm, as it heads towards the South China Sea.
Goni, the 18th cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, struck close to the regions hit by Typhoon Molave early this week, which killed 22 people and destroyed infrastructure and crops.
Meanwhile, the state weather bureau is also tracking Tropical Depression Atsani, churning in the Pacific, 1,365 km east of Luzon.
Typhoons and tropical storms hit the Philippines from June to Dec, claiming hundreds of lives and cause billions of dollars in damages.
The Philippines lost 463 billion pesos (roughly 9.56 billion U.S. dollars) in damages to natural disasters from 2010 to 2019, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.– NNN-PNA
