Tens of thousands of people displaced by the super typhoon Haima
Winds of 250 km / h yesterday whipped the northern coast, threatening 10 million people. There are no known deaths. The rescue teams are unable to intervene. Haima is the 12th typhoon to hit the Philippines this year and could be as destructive as Yolanda, which in 2013 left more than 7 thousand dead.
Manila (AsiaNews) - Tens of thousands of people are fleeing their homes to avoid the super typhoon Haima, which yesterday struck the coast of the Philippines. Winds of about 250 kilometers per hour whipped the province of Cagayan, and are moving in a southwesterly direction. At the moment there are no confirmed casualties, but it is feared that the toll will soon rise due to the power of the storm. About 10 million people are at risk.
At night hundreds of homes were washed away and the power lines cut. Villamor Visaya, an Ilagan university professor says: "I saw a school building crumpled under a big tree ... as if the building had been uprooted from its foundations." Rice fields and corn, he says, "are destroyed as far as the eye can see".
Haima is the second typhoon to hit the Philippines in a week, the 12th since the beginning of the year. It is expected that in the coming days it will cross the South China Sea reaching Hong Kong and Southern China.
Due to the floods, many people have taken refuge on the roofs of the houses, but rescue teams were not able to intervene because of the bad weather conditions. President Rodrigo Duterte, currently visiting Beijing, says that the authorities have done everything possible to prepare for the emergency: "Let us pray - he added - to be spared from destruction like the other times, which led to suffering agony" .
Some experts say that Haima could prove s destructive as Haiyan (called Yolanda by Filipinos) which in 2013 hit the central provinces of the country causing over 7300 dead or missing and serious damage to homes and agriculture.
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22/09/2016 08:53
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