Updated:2024-11-17 03:20 Views:193
A man tries to secure his boat as rain caused by Typhoon Ofel (international name: Usagi) pours in Santa Ana, Cagayan province, northern Philippines on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/NOEL CELIS)
MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon Ofel (international name: Usagi) swamped rural villages in floods, knocked down power and displaced thousands more people before blowing away on Friday from the northern Philippines.
The country has now been pounded by five major storms in less than a month.
Article continues after this advertisementA new storm in the Pacific has strengthened into a powerful typhoon (local name: Pepito) on Friday morning and it is set to hit the Philippine archipelago either on Saturday night or Sunday morning, according to state forecasters.
FEATURED STORIES GLOBALNATION Teachers Always Matter: REX and PEAC reaffirm commitment to the teaching profession GLOBALNATION Zelensky says Ukraine war will end 'sooner' with Trump in office GLOBALNATION DND: PH to continue purchase of missilesThere were no immediate reports of casualties from the onslaught caused by Ofel, which was blowing toward southern Taiwan on Friday.
In Cagayan province in the northernmost tip of the main Luzon region, a key concrete bridge connecting two towns partly collapsed Thursday after logs swept by rampaging river currents smashed into it.
Article continues after this advertisementSeveral other bridges were engulfed in floodwaters and were unusable, provincial officials said.
Article continues after this advertisementOfel made landfall in the northeastern Philippines on Thursday, just two days after the last typhoon, Nika (international name: Toraji), exited after setting off floods and forcing more than 82,500 people to flee from their homes in northern provinces.
Article continues after this advertisementMany of the displaced were still in emergency shelters when Nika hit, according to welfare officials, who have scrambled to transport large numbers of food packs and other aid to more than 300 evacuation centers as the back-to-back storms and typhoons lashed the region.
The government has struggled to deal with the impact of the multiple storms, which left at least 160 people dead, displaced more than 9 million others and devastated farmland and infrastructure, mostly in Luzon.
Article continues after this advertisementPresident Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration has spent more than 1 billion pesos ($17 million) for food and other aid for hundreds of thousands of storm victims, Welfare Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, who oversees disaster-response efforts, sought the help of neighboring countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, in providing additional aircraft to transport food, water and other aid to villages isolated by the storms.
The United States, Manila’s longtime treaty ally, deployed cargo aircraft with food and other assistance.
The U.N. Humanitarian Country Team in the Philippines said it was raising $32.9 million to help the government provide assistance to about 210,000 people in critical need of aid and protection, especially women, children and people with disabilities, in the next three months.
“The Philippines is facing an exceptionally challenging tropical cyclone season, with successive cyclones reaching unprecedented locations and scales,” the U.N. team said in its emergency plan.
“Local authorities, who are often impacted themselves, are overwhelmed as they simultaneously respond to the crisis and coordinate rescue efforts for affected families.”
The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and tropical storms each year.
It is often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
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In 2013phgaming, Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan), one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages and caused ships to run aground and smash into houses in the central Philippines.
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