Flooding after lethal Typhoon Vamco overwhelms Philippines
AT LEAST seven people have been killed by a powerful typhoon that struck the Philippines, unleashing some of the worst flooding in years in the capital Manila.
Typhoon Vamco, also known as Ulysses, is the eighth to hit the Philippines in the past two months, compounding the devastation inflicted on the Southeast Asian nation by the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting blow to the economy.
Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine’s president, cut short his attendance at a virtual meeting of Southeast Asian leaders where he had been warning of the dangers of climate change.
Inspecting the damage, he promised in a national address that the public should “rest assured, the government will not leave anybody behind”. The president pledged shelter, relief goods, financial aid and counselling.
Dramatic images from Manila and its surrounding areas showed people trapped on the roofs of their low-lying homes, and coastguards swimming through muddy floodwater as high as electricity poles to rescue children and the elderly.
Nearly three million homes have been left without power. “A lot of places are submerged. Many people are crying for help,” Rouel Santos, 53, a retired disaster officer in Rizal province, said.
About 40,000 homes had either been f ully or partially s ubmerged in Marikina. Marcelino Teodoro, the city’s mayor, said the situation was “overwhelming” and the worst since a typhoon flooded the capital in 2009.
The typhoon struck areas which were still recovering from Goni, the most powerful typhoon this year, which killed 25. Almost 200,000 people were forced to leave their homes before Vamco struck with gusts of 158mph.
The storms cap a torrid year for the Philippines, which was already reeling from more than 400,000 Covid-19 cases.
Mr Duterte said that the devastating storms were “a stark reminder of the urgency of collective action to combat the effects of climate change”.