Post by marveen on Jul 16, 2014 15:42:02 GMT 8
Strongest Philippine Storm This Year Kills 5, Shuts Markets
At least five people were killed as the strongest storm to make landfall in the Philippines this year lashed Manila, shutting schools, offices and financial markets and knocking out power across most of the capital.
Typhoon Rammasun, locally known as Glenda, weakened as it moved toward the South China Sea, packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour (87 mph) and gusts of as much as 170 kph, the weather bureau said in a 1 p.m. advisory. The storm will move away from the Philippines tomorrow morning and head northwest toward China, it said.
The typhoon displaced more than 338,000 people and damaged at least 321 homes, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said in a televised briefing today. Five people were killed by falling trees or collapsing walls, Alexander Pama, executive director of the government’s disaster risk agency, said at the same briefing.
Video: And the World’s Strongest Bank is…
“The objective has to be to minimize the casualties and the hardship of our people,” President Benigno Aquino said yesterday. Aquino is monitoring the response to the disaster from his office in Manila today, his spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a mobile-phone message.
The second-highest alert in a four-scale warning system is still in effect for 10 areas including Metro Manila. Government offices and schools in the capital and all areas under at least a Signal 2 -- the third-highest alert -- were closed, except for agencies involved in vital services and disaster response. There was no trading and settlement in the currency and bond markets and the Philippine Stock Exchange was shut.
Power Cuts
Manila Electric Co. (MER) said power was cut to almost 90 percent of its customers in the capital and nearby provinces, where about a fourth of the nation’s 107 million people live. Strong winds toppled power poles and brought down transmission lines, the company said on its Facebook page, without giving an estimate on when supply may be restored. Eleven provinces are still without electricity, the disaster agency’s Pama said.
Video: What Makes Hang Seng the Strongest Bank?
As many as 6,000 people are stranded in ports, with at least 11 roads and one bridge outside Manila impassable, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in a 6 a.m. update. About 230 international and local flights were canceled, Pama said.
A Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) plane came into contact with an aerobridge at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila as strong winds moved the aircraft, the company said by e-mail. There were no passengers or crew on board, and engineers will assess the jet once the storm eases, it said. The typhoon grounded a ferry in Batangas province and a cargo vessel in Cavite, the Radyo Inquirer reported, citing Coast Guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo, adding that no one was hurt.
Mall Damaged
Strong winds damaged part of an external wall at one of Ayala Land Inc. (ALI)’s malls in the Makati financial district, the company said in an e-mail, with no injuries.
Graphic: Italy Borrows More as Rates Fall
The Philippines, battered by cyclones that form over the Pacific Ocean, is the second most-at-risk nation globally from tropical storms, after Japan, according to Maplecroft, a research company based in Bath, England.
Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm in the world to hit land, killed more than 6,200 people in the Philippines in November and left more than a thousand missing. Haiyan, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, had top winds of almost 196 miles per hour and winds as fast as 235 mph, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
As many as 10 typhoons may develop or enter the Philippines in the third quarter.
Story: Who Turned Out the Lights? The Coming Mega Sun Storm
Fishermen Missing
A 45-year-old woman and her 18-year-old son who were gathering grass to feed cattle were killed on July 14 after they were struck by lightning in Batangas, a province south of Manila, the police said. A 25-year-old woman in Northern Samar died after she was hit by a toppled electricity post, the government’s risk agency said. Three fishermen went missing yesterday off the island province of Catanduanes.
In Albay where the storm first hit and which has been placed under a state of calamity, trees were uprooted and some homes made from light wood damaged, Colonel Raul Farnacio, a provincial army commander said in a mobile-phone message.
At least a dozen high-voltage power transmission lines have been affected, isolating the Bicol region where the storm made landfall, transmission company National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said in a 7 a.m. update.
Bloomberg Business News
At least five people were killed as the strongest storm to make landfall in the Philippines this year lashed Manila, shutting schools, offices and financial markets and knocking out power across most of the capital.
Typhoon Rammasun, locally known as Glenda, weakened as it moved toward the South China Sea, packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour (87 mph) and gusts of as much as 170 kph, the weather bureau said in a 1 p.m. advisory. The storm will move away from the Philippines tomorrow morning and head northwest toward China, it said.
The typhoon displaced more than 338,000 people and damaged at least 321 homes, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said in a televised briefing today. Five people were killed by falling trees or collapsing walls, Alexander Pama, executive director of the government’s disaster risk agency, said at the same briefing.
Video: And the World’s Strongest Bank is…
“The objective has to be to minimize the casualties and the hardship of our people,” President Benigno Aquino said yesterday. Aquino is monitoring the response to the disaster from his office in Manila today, his spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a mobile-phone message.
The second-highest alert in a four-scale warning system is still in effect for 10 areas including Metro Manila. Government offices and schools in the capital and all areas under at least a Signal 2 -- the third-highest alert -- were closed, except for agencies involved in vital services and disaster response. There was no trading and settlement in the currency and bond markets and the Philippine Stock Exchange was shut.
Power Cuts
Manila Electric Co. (MER) said power was cut to almost 90 percent of its customers in the capital and nearby provinces, where about a fourth of the nation’s 107 million people live. Strong winds toppled power poles and brought down transmission lines, the company said on its Facebook page, without giving an estimate on when supply may be restored. Eleven provinces are still without electricity, the disaster agency’s Pama said.
Video: What Makes Hang Seng the Strongest Bank?
As many as 6,000 people are stranded in ports, with at least 11 roads and one bridge outside Manila impassable, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in a 6 a.m. update. About 230 international and local flights were canceled, Pama said.
A Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) plane came into contact with an aerobridge at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila as strong winds moved the aircraft, the company said by e-mail. There were no passengers or crew on board, and engineers will assess the jet once the storm eases, it said. The typhoon grounded a ferry in Batangas province and a cargo vessel in Cavite, the Radyo Inquirer reported, citing Coast Guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo, adding that no one was hurt.
Mall Damaged
Strong winds damaged part of an external wall at one of Ayala Land Inc. (ALI)’s malls in the Makati financial district, the company said in an e-mail, with no injuries.
Graphic: Italy Borrows More as Rates Fall
The Philippines, battered by cyclones that form over the Pacific Ocean, is the second most-at-risk nation globally from tropical storms, after Japan, according to Maplecroft, a research company based in Bath, England.
Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm in the world to hit land, killed more than 6,200 people in the Philippines in November and left more than a thousand missing. Haiyan, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, had top winds of almost 196 miles per hour and winds as fast as 235 mph, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
As many as 10 typhoons may develop or enter the Philippines in the third quarter.
Story: Who Turned Out the Lights? The Coming Mega Sun Storm
Fishermen Missing
A 45-year-old woman and her 18-year-old son who were gathering grass to feed cattle were killed on July 14 after they were struck by lightning in Batangas, a province south of Manila, the police said. A 25-year-old woman in Northern Samar died after she was hit by a toppled electricity post, the government’s risk agency said. Three fishermen went missing yesterday off the island province of Catanduanes.
In Albay where the storm first hit and which has been placed under a state of calamity, trees were uprooted and some homes made from light wood damaged, Colonel Raul Farnacio, a provincial army commander said in a mobile-phone message.
At least a dozen high-voltage power transmission lines have been affected, isolating the Bicol region where the storm made landfall, transmission company National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said in a 7 a.m. update.
Bloomberg Business News