At least twenty people were killed as a strong typhoon struck the Philippines on Thursday and the early hours of Friday, causing villages to flood and knocking out power lines.
More than 300,000 people fled to safety before the storm made landfall on the country’s south-east coast. It remained destructive with sustained winds of 155 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 215kph as it swept west towards Palawan province before moving into the South China Sea, meteorologists said.
Officials were assessing the extent of the damage and casualties wrought by one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country in recent years, but said efforts were hampered by widespread power failures, downed communications and roads clogged with fallen trees and debris.
Witnesses described ferocious winds that ripped off roofs and forced down trees, while others experienced severe flooding that trapped residents on their roofs.
“I have never experienced such ferocity of the wind in my life and we were not even directly hit,” Mayor Jerry Trenas of central Iloilo city told The Associated Press. He said that at least one resident was killed when she was hit by a cluster of bamboo blown down by the storm.
Workers were clearing roads in the coastal city of nearly half a million people, which was without power and struggling with erratic cell phone signals, he said.
Two other people died in southern Bukidnon province, where a falling tree killed one resident and injured another, and in Surigao city, where a man died after being hit by debris, officials said.
Officials were expected to confirm at least two other typhoon-related deaths in central Guimaras province.
In central Bohol province, which was directly hit by the typhoon, Governor Arthur Yap said many residents were trapped on their roofs by floodwater for a second day in the riverside town of Loboc, where his own house was swamped by water up to the second floor. Mr Yap pleaded for volunteers from other regions to help save residents, saying he and other officials were struggling to find a way to get rescue boats to Loboc.
“Hundreds of families are trapped on the rooftops right now,” Mr Yap told DZBB radio. He said residents were exposed to rain and wind overnight. “We need first responders. What’s important now is to save lives.”
It was unclear what happened in other towns in the hard-hit province, which still had no electricity, Mr Yap said.
Coast guard personnel rescued residents trapped in chest-deep waters on Thursday in a southern province, where torrential rains swamped villages. In Cagayan de Oro city, footage showed two rescuers struggling to keep a month-old baby in a laundry basin above the water and shield it from the wind and rain with an umbrella.
Presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said more than 332,000 people were moved when high-risk villages were evacuated as the typhoon approached from the Pacific Ocean, including nearly 15,000 who were taken to evacuation centres. Crowding in those centres complicated efforts to keep people safely distanced after authorities detected the country’s first infections caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Vaccination campaigns were also halted in provinces affected by the typhoon.
The coast guard directed all vessels in dozens of ports affected by stormy weather not to venture out, stranding more than 4,500 passengers and ferry and cargo ship workers. An international airport in Cebu province was closed and several mostly domestic flights were cancelled while schools and workplaces were shut in the most vulnerable areas, Mr Nograles said.
At least 62 cities and towns either lost power entirely or were experiencing disruptions to their electricity services.
About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago lies in the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire region, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
Super Bowl LIII schedule
What Super Bowl LIII
Who is playing New England Patriots v Los Angeles Rams
Where Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, United States
When Sunday (start time is 3.30am on Monday UAE time)
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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SPECS
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Third Test, Day 1
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
