Typhoon slams into Philippines, thousands stranded
Pastor Dale Morgan
Typhoon slams into Philippines, thousands stranded*
Reuters
Wednesday, September 27, 2006; 4:47 AM
MANILA (Reuters) - Typhoon Xangsane struck the central Philippines on
Wednesday, stranding nearly 3,500 ferry passengers as gusts of up to 150
km (94 miles) per hour kept boats in harbor.
Disaster officials warned of flash floods and landslides as Xangsane hit
central Samar province and headed northwest. Schools were suspended and
a handful of flights were grounded.
"We have suspended port operations to avoid possible mishap," Anthony
Golez, acting head of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, told
reporters, adding about 80 commuter buses, 61 cars and 115 trucks were
stopped at ferry terminals.
"About 3,400 passengers would spend the night in the ferry stations
until the typhoon blows away and the seas calm down."
The weather services bureau said Xangsane could sweep close to the
capital, Manila, on Thursday night. If it continues on its current path,
the storm is expected to hit the popular Vietnamese beach resort of Da
Nang by early next week.
Residents living near the slopes of Mayon volcano in the central
Philippine province of Albay were warned not to venture within an 8-km
danger zone around its crater for fear high winds would sweep mud and
rocks down the sides of the mountain.
Mayon, a popular tourist destination, has been spewing lava, mud, huge
rocks and noxious gas since July but the government lowered the alert
level around the volcano earlier this month.
Vulcanologists warned on Wednesday that there remained a "fair
probability" of an explosive eruption at Mayon after they recorded seven
volcanic quakes and 18 tremors in the past 24 hours.
Another active volcano, Taal, just 60 km south of Manila, showed signs
of "seismic unrest" late on Monday after scientists observed an increase
in volcanic earthquakes.
"These quakes were accompanied by rumbling sounds," the Philippine
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in a statement
on Wednesday. "There is still no indication of an impending eruption."
The Philippines sits on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific
Ocean known as the "Ring of Fire" and is prone to natural disasters such
as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as well as flooding caused by
typhoons and tropical storms.
In the worst disaster in recent years, more than 5,000 people died on
the central island of Leyte in 1991 in floods triggered by a typhoon.
In 2004, about 1,800 people were killed or went missing in a series of
storms. The toll included 480 who were killed when mudslides buried
three towns in Quezon, an eastern province.