At least 17 dead as typhoon lashes Philippines

[Sing4Him]

At least 17 dead as typhoon lashes Philippines

Sat Jun 21, 2008 8:56am EDT

MANILA (Reuters) - Typhoon Fengshen killed at least 17 people in floods and landslides in the Philippines and left a ferry adrift with over 700 passengers and crew on Saturday.

The Princess of the Stars stalled in rough seas near Sibuyan island in the central Philippines with 626 passengers and 121 crew on board, officials said.

"It's dead on the water but we can't get to it because of big waves," said a coast guard spokesman. The boat left Manila on Saturday morning for the central province of Cebu.

In the southern Philippines, 10 people drowned and five were missing after a river burst its banks in Maguindanao province. In Cotabato City, a man and a child were buried in a landslide at a rubbish dump, police said. Five other people were also drowned.

Fengshen, with winds gusting up to 195 kph (121 mph), is moving through the centre of the Southeast Asian ...


http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSSP1875920080621?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

[JoshuaGeneration]

The birth pangs continue...

[Biblenuggetlady]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Fengshen_%282008%29

excerpt
Early the next day the JMA upgraded the tropical depression to a tropical storm and assigned the name Fengshen. This name was submitted by the People’s Republic of China and is the Mandarin Chinese name for the God of Wind. [1] Tropical Storm Fengshen then rapidly intensified that day becoming a severe tropical storm by midday and then Fengshen became a typhoon in the JMAs 1800z advisory.

The next day Typhoon Fengshen made landfall in eastern Samar in the central Philippines and was travelling northwest

At least 155 people have been killed by the typhoon as it drops torrential rain causing flooding and mudslides.[3] In Iloilo province, 59 are reported killed and 40 missing.[4]In Iloilo City, 30 thousand people were forced onto rooftops when a nearby reservoir burst.[5] In the Bicol Region, more than 200 thousand people sought temporary shelter from the typhoon.[5]


[edit] Maritime tragedy
A ferry, the Princess of the Stars, was stranded near Sibuyan Island, and the Philippine Coast Guard was unable to make a rescue attempt because of high waves.[6] A rescue ship reached the MV Princess of Stars, more than 24 hours after it lost radio contact at 12:30 p.m. EDT (04:30 GMT) on Saturday. about 700 people were on this ship at the time; it is unlikely there are any survivors, and, as of now, only a few have drifted ashore.[7] Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Senior Grade Arman Balilo, however, lamented: "They haven't seen anyone. They're scouring the area. They're studying the direction of the waves to determine where survivors may have drifted."[8] Xinhua reported that the four survivors witnessed "that the captain of the ship ordered the abandoning of the ship at noon Saturday, but many passengers did not even wear life vests when the ship capsized." Four survivors, Jesus Gica, Oliver Amorin, Jessie Buot, and Renato Lanorio, told GMA news that "the ship did not malfunction, but only slowed down its speed as it encountered big waves off the coast of Romblon." Gica saw many people jump, but "the waves were so big and the rains so strong that few of them could have possibly survived; the crew were so busy saving themselves that they did not care to help the passengers to wear safety vests, and that some of the passengers passed out while children and the elderly failed to wear life vests because they could no longer move when the ship was turning upside down." :cry

And it's not over:

By June 22, Fengshen is anticipated to hit central Luzon.[12] The typhoon is expected to reach eastern Taiwan between June 23 and 24, and is currently 1,300 kilometres away from the country.

[Biblenuggetlady]

Here is a link to the animation showing the expected path and area affected:

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/0806.html

This looks like it is going to affect 100% of Japan, not just Taiwan.