Huge waves strike central Philippine villages
Pastor Dale Morgan
Saturday August 12, 6:41 PM Reuters
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Huge waves strike central Philippine villages*
MANILA (Reuters) - Heavy rains, strong winds and huge waves, boosted by
the southwest monsoon, damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 shacks in
the central Philippines, disaster and local officials said on Saturday.
Disaster officials said nearly 60,000 people in Negros Occidental
province were displaced when waves as high as 3 metres (10 feet) smashed
into coastal villages.
"We've never seen such waves in our entire lives," Ricardo Presbiterio,
mayor of Valladolid town, told Reuters.
"The waves even reached about 50 metres inland, flooding the coastal
areas due to heavy rains and high tide."
Presbiterio said the coastal villages were struck twice by the huge
waves on late Wednesday and Thursday during high tide and the full moon.
"The local meteorologists told us the waves were caused by several
factors, including the rains and winds induced by the monsoon, the
occurrence of high tide and the gravitational pull of the full moon,"
Presbiterio said.