The Philippines is bracing itself for a new storm in the coming days after Typhoon Kalmaegi pounded the country. Kalmaegi also caused deaths and destruction in Vietnam.
Typhoon Kalmaegi has left widespread devastation in the Philippines, as here in Cebu ProvinceImage: Jam Sta Rosa/AFP/Getty Images
Advertisement
The Philippines is in for more extreme weather as a major storm moves toward the country's eastern coast.
The island nation is still reeling from Typhoon Kalmaegi, which devastated large swathes of the country this week.
The new storm, Typhoon Fung-wong, is expected to turn into a super typhoon before it makes landfall on Sunday night or early Monday morning, with the Philippines' weather bureau warning of storm surges of up to five meters (16 feet).
The official death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi in the Philippines has meanwhile risen to at least 204, officials say.
Kalmaegi went on to kill at least five more people in central Vietnam after the storm pounded the country with torrential rain and high winds on Friday.
The storm had weakened to a tropical depression by Friday morning and moved into neighboring Laos and Cambodia.
Typhoon Kalmaegi causes devastating destruction
Landslides, flooding, and power outages — Typhoon Kalmaegi has devastated coastal regions in the Philippines and Vietnam. As the arduous cleanup work continues, concerns about the next storm are growing.
Image: Jam Sta Rosa/AFP/Getty Images
Kalmaegi's trail of destruction
The typhoon left a trail of destruction in its wake. In recent days, Kalmaegi has devastated parts of the Philippines before moving on toward Vietnam. Some 2.2 million people in 32 provinces on the island nation have been affected by the devastating storm damage. The death toll has risen to 188, and 130 more people are still missing.
Image: Jam Sta Rosa/AFP/Getty Images
Funeral service in a gymnasium
As the search for survivors of the floods and landslides continues, relatives mourn the victims of the disaster. Gyms are being turned into makeshift funeral homes, where people are saying their goodbyes. "I told my family to swim," reports a survivor who lost his wife in the disaster. "I told them they would be saved.”
Nearly 450,000 people in the Philippines were forced to leave their homes and seek shelter in emergency accommodations. Hundreds of thousands remain in makeshift shelters. It is unclear how many will be able to return to their homes. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a national state of emergency to ensure rapid access to emergency funds.
Image: Alan Tangcawan/AFP/Getty Images
Difficult clean-up work
Heavy rainfall from Typhoon Kalgaemi caused one of the worst floods in recent years. As cleanup efforts begin, concerns are growing about the next storm: Meteorologists are warning of Fung-wong, which could threaten not only central coastal cities but also the northern metropolis of Manila.
Image: Eloisa Lopez/REUTERS
Kalmaegi hit the Philippines first, then Vietnam
In Vietnam, the typhoon made landfall with wind speeds of 149 kilometers per hour (93 mph). In the provinces of Gia Lai and Dak Lak, houses collapsed under the force of the storm. Kalmaegi sank ships, destroyed thousands of roofs, and uprooted trees. Millions of people were left without power.
Image: Sy Thang/AP Photo/picture alliance
Storm damage in Vietnam
People in the Vietnamese coastal city of Quy Nhon on the South China Sea assess the storm damage from the night before. Furniture and objects lie in the streets, muddy water collects in hollows and depressions. As the sky clears over the Vietnamese coast, people begin the arduous task of cleaning up.
Image: Nhac Nguyen/AFP
Vietnam's storm-battered coastline
During typhoon season, dozens of severe storms hit the coast of Vietnam. Typhoon Kalmaegi was the 13th tropical storm of the season — three severe tropical storms since just the end of September have caused billions in damage and left numerous people dead or missing. Experts warn that warming seas off the coast of Vietnam are increasing the number and intensity of storms.
Image: Nhac Nguyen/AFP/Getty Images
One typhoon follows another
There is no respite. In the province of Cebu in the Philippines, exhausted residents seek shade under piles of cars. Many people have lost everything in the mudslides and floods. But already, the authorities are urging hundreds of thousands of Filipinos to seek safety ahead of the next typhoon, Fung-wong.
Image: Jam Sta Rosa/AFP/Getty Images
8 images1 | 8
Evacuation orders as Typhoon Fung-wong nears
Fung-wong, currently carrying maximum sustained winds of 140 kph (87 mph) and gusts of up to 170 kph, has already brought heavy rains and winds to parts of the eastern Philippines.
Advertisement
The typhoon spans 1,500 kilometers (932 miles), meaning that it could also affect the densely populated area in and around the capital, Manila.
Residents in low-lying and coastal areas have been ordered to evacuate to higher ground and to halt all activities at sea.
In addition to the more than 200 fatalities, nearly 450,000 people were evacuated to shelters, and nearly 400,000 remained in evacuation centers or homes of relatives as of Saturday.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday visited the worst-affected areas in the central Cebu province, where 141 people died, mostly in flooding.
The Philippines is hit by around 20 tropical cyclones each year. More than 6,300 people died when Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the country in November 2013.
President Marcos Jr. visited sites affected by Typhoon Kalmaegi in Cebut ProvinceImage: Malacanang Presidential Communications Office/AP Photo/picture alliance
What is the extent of the damage in Vietnam?
In Vietnam, the storm uprooted trees and downed power lines, leaving some 500,000 people without power as of Saturday. It also caused dozens of homes to collapse and severely damaged or blew the roofs off more than 2,600 others.
Kalmaegi's high winds uprooted trees, damaged buildings and severely disrupted transportImage: Nhac Nguyen/AFP
Vietnamese authorities have warned of continued torrential rains, with forecasts of up to 200 millimeters (8 inches) in the center of the country, where rising river levels have also triggered warnings of landslides and floods.
Before Kalmaegi's arrival, Vietnam was still recovering from days of record-breaking amounts of rain that caused flash floods.
Climate scientists have warned that such extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and intensity as the Earth's atmosphere warms, largely because of human use of fossil fuels.
