A huge typhoon smashed into the Philippines with winds nearing 200 mph. It was called one of the strongest storms to be recorded. Authorities know of at least four people that have already been killed from the storm’s fury.
Forecasters warned there could be catastrophic damage from the storm. In parts of the Philippines, power was out and trees had been toppled, while flooding was widespread. Communications were knocked out in many of the areas that had been hardest-hit, making it nearly impossible to get a complete sense of how bad the damage was.
Two of those killed were electrocuted in accidents related to the storm, while one person was killed by a tree that fell over and one other was hit by lightning, said officials.
It made landfall as the most powerful hurricane or typhoon ever recorded, based upon its wind speed measured by satellites, said the Weather Underground.
Authorities in the city if Guiuan were not reachable to confirm damage or deaths as the entire area had lost communication.
Images on the television showed knee-deep water in streets with debris floating on top. Sheets of tin ripped off roofs could be seen blowing around.
Officials from the province of Cebu shut electrical service off to avoid any electrocutions due to power pylons being toppled.
Thousands of people had been evacuated in the central part of the Philippines as the storm took its aim at that region, which just last month was devastated by a strong earthquake.
Close to 10 million people are living in the central islands of the Philippines and most were in direct risk of being hit by the typhoon.
The computer forecasted track had the storm hitting Tacloban which has 250,000 residents and then onto Cebu a city of close to 1 million.
The president of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III urged people in high-risk areas to leave, including more than 100 communities on the coast where forecasters had warned that storm surge could be as high as 23 feet.
