A satellite image of the incoming tropical storm with the eye visible among the swirl. (Image source: Japan Meteorlogical Agency and EUMETSAT/Facebook)
When you see the satellite images of the storm, you’ll understand why those in the area are fleeing.
Typhoon Haiyan has sustained winds of 134 miles per hour and ferocious gusts of 155 mph and could strengthen over the Pacific Ocean before slamming the eastern province of Samar early Friday, government forecasters said.
It is speculated the storm will be among the strongest to form on Earth, already measuring Category 5 in intensity — the highest on the scale measuring tropical cyclones.
This image provided by the U.S. Naval Research Lab shows Typhoon Haiyan taken by the NEXSAT satellite Thursday Nov. 7, 2013 at 2:30 a.m. EDT. Gorvernment forecasters said Thursday that Typhoon Haiyan was packing sustained winds of 215 kilometers (134 miles) per hour and ferocious gusts of 250 kph (155 mph) and could pick up strength over the Pacific Ocean before it slams into the eastern Philippine province of Eastern Samar on Friday. (AP/US Naval Research Lab)
The U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii said it was the strongest tropical cyclone in the world this year, although Cyclone Phailin, which hit eastern India on Oct. 12, packed winds of up to 138 mph and stronger gusts.
Typhoon Haiyan now has winds at 190mph! The Philippines are taking direct impact. VERY bad. Look at this beast. http://t.co/xLIvi9XYcl
The “beast” (Image source: Georgia Storm Chaser/Twitter)
Facing another possible disaster, President Benigno Aquino III warned people to leave high-risk areas, including 100 coastal communities where forecasters said the storm surge could reach up to 23 feet. He urged seafarers to stay away from choppy seas.
Aquino urged people to stay calm and avoid panic-buying of basic goods and assured the public of war-like preparations: Three C-130 air force cargo planes and 32 military helicopters and planes were on standby, along with 20 navy ships.
“No typhoon can bring Filipinos to their knees if we’ll be united,” he said in a nationally televised address.
Governors and mayors were supervising the evacuation of landslide- and flood-prone communities in several provinces where the typhoon is expected to pass, said Eduardo del Rosario, head of the government’s main disaster-response agency.
Even in southern Misamis Oriental province located farther from the typhoon’s expected track, more than 12,000 people abandoned their homes in six coastal towns and a mountain municipality that have been hit by past landslides, said Misamis Oriental Governor Yevgeny Emano, who also suspended school classes.
Aquino ordered officials to aim for zero casualties, a goal often not met in an archipelago lashed by about 20 storms each year, most of them deadly and destructive. Haiyan is the 24th such storm to hit the Philippines this year.
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel stand in formation beside newly-acquired rubber boats following a blessing ceremony in Manila on November 6, 2013. PCG Chief Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena ordered the newly-acquired rubber boats to be deployed to the central Philippines in preparation for the super typhoon Haiyan which is expected to make a landfall in that area on November 8. The Philippines is preparing for what it believes will be the most powerful typhoon to hit this storm-ravaged country this year. (JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images)
Edgardo Chatto, the governor of Bohol island province in the central Philippines, where an earthquake in October killed more than 200 people, said that soldiers, police and rescue units were helping displaced residents, including thousands still in small tents, move to shelters. Bohol is not forecast to get a direct hit but is expected to be battered by strong wind and rain, government forecaster Jori Loiz said.
Army troops were helping transport food packs and other relief goods in hard-to-reach communities and rescue helicopters are on stand-by, the military said.
“My worst fear is that the eye of this typhoon will hit us. I hope we will be spared,” Chatto told The Associated Press by telephone.
Watch this report from EuroNews about the incoming storm:
Haiyan was forecast to barrel through the country’s central region Friday and Saturday before it blows toward the South China Sea over the weekend, heading toward Vietnam. It was not expected to directly hit the densely-populated capital of Manila farther north, but residents in the flood-prone city were jittery, with one suburb suspending classes and authorities ordering giant tarpaulin billboard ads to be removed along the main highway.
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