Disaster-weary country: Typhoon tears down homes in Philippines

TACLOBAN, PHILIPPINES:

Typhoon Hagupit tore apart homes and dumped fierce rains across the eastern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least two people while creating more misery for millions after a barrage of deadly disasters.

The typhoon roared in from the Pacific Ocean and into remote fishing communities on Samar island on Saturday night with wind gusts of 210 kilometres an hour, local weather agency Pagasa said.

The wind strength at landfall made Hagupit the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines this year, exceeding a typhoon in July that killed more than 100 people.

"Many houses, especially in the coastal areas, were blown away by strong winds," Stephanie Uy-Tan, the mayor of Catbalogan, a major city on Samar, told AFP by phone on Sunday.

"Trees and power lines were toppled, tin roofs were blown off and there is flooding."

Fearful of a repeat of last year when Super Typhoon Haiyan claimed more than 7,350 lives, the government undertook a massive evacuation effort ahead of Hagupit that saw millions of people seek shelter.

Authorities said the efforts, described the United Nations as one of the biggest peacetime evacuations ever, had undoubtedly saved many lives.

Hagupit's maximum wind gusts also dropped sharply on Sunday morning to 170 kilometres an hour, with sustained winds of 140 kilometres an hour.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2014.