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Hundreds of Thousands Evacuate Homes as Typhoon Mitag Nears Philippines
by Rob Walker | November 23, 2007 at 06:56 am | 1109 views | 5 comments | 2 recommendations
One of the areas hit hard last year by typhoons is in danger again and hundreds of thousands of people are being evacuated from their homes as typhoon Mitag strengthens and continues plodding towards the Philippines.
Typhoon Mitag intensified as it moved slowly towards the Philippines on Friday, triggering mass evacuations, flight cancellations and exacerbating flooding from a previous storm.The typhoon has winds of 175 km per hour (108 miles per hour) at its centre and is forecast to strengthen.
The storm is almost stationary east of the central Bicol region, the Philippines' typhoon alley, on Friday evening, but was likely to make landfall on Saturday, weather officials said.
People in Bicol sought refuge in churches, schools and town halls as more than 50,000 people fled their homes.
Disaster officials said 200,000 people would be evacuated from Bicol, where volcanic mud from the slopes of Mount Mayon can trigger lethal landslides.
Previous Now Public coverage
As usual, excellent and up-to-date information can be found here:
w-underground has satellite pics, graphs and a really solid discussion board.
tenspider is tracking the storm as well.
Colorado Edu site with live java tracking images.
November 23, 2007 at 06:56 am by Rob Walker, 1109 views, 5 comments
Crowd Power
Rob Walker
Toronto, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 07:27 on November 23rd, 2007
I think this is an important story and would benefit from other NowPublic contributors working on it. I've flagged it as News Wanted and invite others in relevant locations to look for more evidence.
at 16:04 on November 23rd, 2007
Important story, thanks Rob.
at 17:22 on November 23rd, 2007
During a multi-agency briefing early Friday evening, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conducted a round of calls to various provinces and cities in the Bicol region to ascertain their situation. Local governments have done their jobs evacuating residents of flood and landslide-prone areas, and collecting thousands of pounds in relief goods for the evacuees. The President has assured the mayors and governors of manpower, financial and subsistence support if necessary.
Bearing the lesson from last year's devastation over the region, the people themselves have asked the military and other agencies to bring them to safer grounds.
However, some evacuees could not help but feel frustration over being "immured" in the evacuation centers when the weather seemed calm.
President Arroyo asked community leaders to explain to the public that the typhoon has been treading towards land at a snail's pace. But its maximum sustained winds of 210 kph would mean prolonged periods of wrath over affected areas, which is virtually 3/4 of the country.
at 17:26 on November 23rd, 2007
"Mina" turns northward
at 15:07 on November 26th, 2007
Mornin' all. As of 0805hrs on 27 Nov '07, still calm here on Okinawa. Although clouds had been streaming through for about two days, it wasn't until about 0100hrs this morning that the rains really began to hit. Not much wind yet, will keep posted on further details of Mitag's progress through the area. :)