Vamco kills 7 as typhoon-weary communities mop up in northern Philippines | VIDEO
‘Vamco’, aka Ulysses in The Philippines, is now a severe tropical storm heading westward towards the central Vietnamese coastline after making landfall on The Philippines yesterday as the latest typhoon. At least 7 people have died and 12 others missing after Vamco made landfall on Wednesday night.
A 68 and 70 year old are among those killed. More than 180,000 people were evacuated before the typhoon battered the countryIn one of the worst typhoon years on record, Vamco barrelled into communities that were devastated by Super Typhoon Goni just 10 days before.
Typhoon Vamco was equivalent in force to a Category 2 hurricane or cyclone. It made landfall at 11pm Philippines time near Patnanungan, Quezon, then kept tracking westward, making another landfall in Luzon. The storm again caused flooding and 2-3 metres of storm surge and local landslides.
Philippine President Duterte cut short his attendance of an online meeting of south east Asian leaders to visit some of the damaged areas hit by Typhoon Vamco. His inspection followed a speech where he urged his fellow ASEAN leaders to urgently combat the effects of climate change.
The major typhoon, the 8th to hit The Philippines over the past 2 months and the 21st tropical storm of the year, pushed residents higher ground or to scramble onto rooftop of their houses awaiting rescue after 10s of thousands of homes were submerged.
People killed across The Philippine’s main north island of Luzon, home to over half of the country’s 109 million population, included people who drowned in the storm surges and flooding. Vamco struck areas still recovering from Typhoon Goni, the most powerful typhoon in the world this year. It killed 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes 10 days ago when it slammed into the same communities.
Vamco now heads towards the Vietnamese coast and is situated in the middle of the South China Sea, but has lost a lot of its power and is now rated as a sever tropical storm.
