Another disaster happened in tropical Asia. Very powerful typhoon Rai, a catastrophic tropical cyclone hit the region, mostly the Philippines. It is a category 5 storm (which is the third Category 5 super typhoon recorded in the region) that caused severe and widespread damage throughout the Southern Philippines. At least 392 people are dead by now, and over 100 000 people were moved to higher places as floodings occurred, as the result of heavy landfall. At least 500 people were injured, and 56 have been reported missing by local police. It is reported that over 300 000 people left their places in the whole region because of this catastrophe.
On December 16, the typhoon passed directly over Siargao Island in the province of Surigao del Nort. It made heavy landfall there. They reported strong winds and high waves in region affected by storm.
From December 9 and 10, meteorological agencies monitored low pressure, southeast from Palau and north from Papua New Guinea. On December 13, they upgraded the system to a weak tropical depression, while on December 14 in the early morning, the system was upgraded to a severe tropical storm. They further upgraded the system to a typhoon by the next day. Then the storm became larger suddenly. It got rapid intensification on December 15, from 120 km/h to 260 km/h by December 16!
Surigao City was hit badly, as a neighboring region. Electricity was cut, trees rapidly felt on roads, making them impassable, communications went offline. Floods occurred. The chair of the Philippines Red Cross, Richard Gordon, told the BBC that ,,Many areas have no power, no communications, very little water. There are some areas that look like it has been bombed worse than World War Two”.
On December 17, the provinces of Bohol and Cebu were placed into a state of emergency due to widespread damages. Emergency teams were not able to enter certain affected areas due to floods, debris, and other obstacles. After typhoon Rai hit the Philippines, the governments of USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, China and the European Union had so far announced their intention to send help to the country.
