2nd Typhoon in Week Lashes Rain-Soaked Philippines
By OLIVER TEVES Associated Press
MANILA, Philippines September 30, 2011 (AP)
The second typhoon in a week battered the rain-soaked northern Philippines on Saturday, adding misery to thousands of people, some of whom still perched on rooftops while several other Asian nations also reeled from flooding.
Typhoon Nalgae slammed ashore midmorning Saturday south of northeastern Palanan Bay in Isabela province with winds of 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour and dangerous gusts of 121 mph (195 kph).
It was making a similar path across the saturated Luzon Island as Typhoon Nesat, which earlier in the week killed at least 50 people, left 31 missing and thousands stranded and sent huge waves that breached a seawall in Manila Bay. Nesat also pummeled southern China and was downgraded to a tropical storm just before churning into northern Vietnam on Friday afternoon, where flood warnings were issued and 20,000 people evacuated.
In the Philippines, nearly 400,000 hunkered down in evacuation centers and in homes of relatives and friends along the new typhoon's path with heavy rainfall of about an inch (25 millimeters) an hour within the storm's 340-mile (630-kilometer) diameter that put most of the northern provinces including the capital on alert.
Isabela authorities earlier shut down electricity in the province to prevent accidents from falling power pylons and snapped cables.
The howling winds toppled trees and blew away tin roofs of some houses in Isabela's provincial capital of Ilagan. In nearby Luna township, a bus with about 30 passengers fell on its side on a rice field because of the strong winds, but no one was seriously injured, police said.
"The ground is still supersaturated and it cannot absorb more water," said Graciano Yumul, the Philippines' weather bureau chief. "This will just flow down to rivers and towns, and there is a big possibility that landslides, flash flooding and flooding could occur."
He urged residents still refusing to leave their homes despite the floods to evacuate because the water was going to rise in the coming hours as Typhoon Nalgae dumped more rain.
At least five towns in the rice-growing province of Bulacan and Pampanga, north of Manila, remained submerged three days after Typhoon Nesat had moved on.
"We have nowhere to go," Celenia Espino of Calumpit township said from her home, which was filled with knee-deep murky water. "We have no means of transportation out of here."
She was one of the thousands who sought shelter on rooftops with no food, water and electricity, while a procession of other residents waded in chest-deep water down main roads to reach dry land.
In the last four months, prolonged monsoon flooding, typhoon and storms across Southeast Asia, China, Japan and South Asia has left more than 600 people dead or missing.
In India alone, the damage is estimated to be worth $1 billion, with the worst-hit state of Orissa accounting for $726 million.
Several studies suggest an intensification of the Asian summer monsoon rainfall with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, the state-run Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology said. Still, it is not clear that this is entirely because of climate change, especially in India, it said.
The damage from the earlier typhoon in the Philippines was estimated at $91 million.
Nalgae, a Korean word for wing, was forecast to reach Luzon's western shore Saturday evening and exit into the South China Sea as a weakened category-1 typhoon as it moves toward China's Hainan Island on Monday.
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Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila, Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong, Katy Daigle and Ashok Sharma in New Delhi and Thanyarat Doksone in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Noble's current assignment is San Mariano. He has traveled to Ilagan (Above San Mariano) for the good shopping. The bus was blown over in Luna (To the Left of San Mariano). The Mission Home is in Cauayan (To the Left of San Mariano).
We are concerned because Typhoon Nesat hit in the North above the word Aparri on the top of the map. Typhoon Nalgae hit on the Northeast part of the Island on the Palanan Coast. Right where Noble's 2nd area of San Mariano is. Noble is 30 miles from the coast with a mountain range between him and the coast. We doubt we will get any news from Noble tomorrow because the authorities have shut off the power until the storm has passed. This will prevent danger from fires and electricity due to telephone poles that are blown over by the 100 miles an hour winds that gust to a dangerous 125 MPH.
Shana thought of looking a the Philippines mission blog.
http://carlosmission.blogspot.com/
Friday, September 30, 2011
Another Typhoon is Heading Our Way
We just got word that another typhoon is due to hit our area pre-dawn tomorrow morning and is now categorized as a Level 3. Level 3 will bring high winds and lots of rain, but nothing that should keep us down too long. We have evacuated a number of our missionaries to higher ground as lots of rain is expected. All other companionships have been instructed to have several days of water, food and candles on hand. We are prepared!
Most of us just got back power since the typhoon on Tuesday. We will update this blog if we have power as soon as it passes. Please join with us in prayer that these storms will be tempered and somehow diverted.
Thanks to all for your concern.
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Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Typhoon Pedring
We received word that a typhoon was headed our way but it was categorized as a Level 2, which means lots of rain and wind but nothing too crazy. In the middle of the night it was elevated to a Level 3, still nothing compared to the huge Typhoon Juan we had in October 2010. The worst part of this typhoon actually bypassed us and swerved more towards Manila. So there is lots of flooding and problems in Manila. Throughout our mission we have had massive tree damage and lots of brown outs (no electricity) there are a few areas where missionaries have been moved because of flooding, but all in all we are in great shape. We feel very fortunate! (The mission home and office has been without electricity since yesterday morning 32 hours so far. We have a generator so we have a few lights, refrigeration, fans and the Internet! Many of our missionaries are using candles for the next few days. Luckily the temperatures are cooler than normal so the heat isn't too bad.
Our sources in Manila told us that we could go ahead and send our departing missionaries on the bus this evening. They say the problems in Manila are more in the side roads and that the major highway to Manila is passable. So with a prayer in our hearts for a safe journey we put our 11 belved departing missionaries on the bus. Tomorrow they will go to the Manila temple and then catch flights, buses and boats to their homes on Friday.
President & Sister Carlos
Noble's 1st Transfer
Several of the towns in the north end of our mission have these horse-drawn carriages. Notice the size of the horses they are a miniature breed.
These bananas were sitting on the missionaries front porch. A member cut down the branch from one of his banana trees. Each row is ripening at a different pace so the elders can have ripe bananas for quite a few mornings!
This rice is white and ready to harvest!
I loved this picture because it shows ripe rice next to a paddy of growing rice. You can see the change of color as the rice grows. Newly planted is lime green, the maturing rice gets darker green before turning golden before it's ready to harvest.
