More than 140,000 people were forced into cramped shelters as Typhoon “Ambo” (international name Vongfong) hammered the Philippines on Friday, compounding the country’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic.
READ: Typhoon forces 140,000 from homes in virus-hit Philippines
The powerful typhoon has dumped heavy rains since it roared ashore on Thursday, with hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in its path on the coast or in flimsy homes.
The storm hit as tens of millions of Filipinos are hunkered down at home against COVID-19, but at least 141,700 have had to flee because of the powerful storm, disaster officials said.
“We have to wear masks and apply distancing at all times,” local police official Carlito Abriz said. “It’s difficult to enforce because they (the evacuees) are stressed. But we are doing our best.”
Authorities have said they will run shelters at half of capacity, provide masks to people who don’t have them, and try to keep families grouped together.
However, many spaces normally used as storm shelters have been converted into quarantine sites for people suspected of being infected with coronavirus.
The central region where the storm struck first is not one of the hotspots of the outbreak, which has seen more than 11,800 infected and 790 dead.
In Tacloban, more than 12,000 people were evacuated and hundreds of houses were damaged as Ambo barreled through densely populated and mostly poor communities in three provinces of Samar Island on Thursday afternoon.
READ: ‘Ambo’ ravages Samar; evacuees face twin threat
Four people were injured in Can-avid, Eastern Samar.
As of 2 p.m. Friday, 232 persons and 110 vehicles were stranded in Allen port, Northern Samar.
A total of 546 evacuation centers were also established across the Eastern Visayas region, with 136 in Northern Samar, 47 in Samar, 23 in Eastern Samar, 282 in Leyte, and 58 in Biliran.
The total number of evacuated persons reached 12,805, mostly in Northern Samar, 10,726, and Samar, 2,079.
Earlier, Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone said the whole province has no electricity.
The towns of Dolores, Oras, Arteche, Jipapad, and San Policarpo, where the typhoon made a landfall, have no communications.
Some houses, especially those made of light materials, and several fishing boats were also damaged.
Damage to houses and infrastructure were also reported in the towns of Arteche, San Policarpo, Jipapad and Oras, while a gymnasium in Maslog, Eastern Samar was destroyed.
On Friday morning, at least 48 municipalities were without electricity, with four in Eastern Samar, 24 in Northern Samar, 18 in Samar, and two in Biliran.
Mobile phone service was intermittent in Northern Samar, while four towns in Eastern Samar–Arteche, San Policarpo, Jipapad, and Oras–still do not have a signal.
The typhoon slightly weakened into a severe tropical storm after making its seventh landfall in Catanuan, Quezon Friday.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Ambo was approaching Real-Infanta area in northern Quezon.
It first made landfalls in San Andres, Quezon; San Policarpo, Eastern Samar; Dalupiri Island, Northern Samar; Capul Island, Northern Samar; Ticao Island, Masbate, and Burias Island, Masbate, and was forecast to make another landfall over Real or Infanta.
Based on Pagasa’s 4 p.m. bulletin, the center of Ambo was estimated at 40 kilometers sought of Infanta and was moving northwest at 20 kilometers per hour packing maximum sustained winds of 100 kms per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 140 kph.
Nine areas were placed under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) No. 3 on Friday noon. These were Quezon including Polillo Island, Rizal, Laguna, the southern portion of Aurora (Dipaculao, Maria Aurora, Baler, San Luis, Dingalan), the southern portion of Nueva Ecija (Licab, Quezon, Santo Domingo, Talavera, Llanera, Rizal,Bongabon, General Mamerto Natividad, Aliaga, Zaragoza, San Antonio, Jaen, Santa Rosa, Cabanatuan, Palayan, Laur, Gabaldon, Peñaranda, San Leonardo, Cabiao, San Isidro, Gapan, General Tinio), the eastern portion of Bulacan (San Miguel, San Ildefonso, Dona Remedios Trinidad, San Rafael, Angat, Norzagaray, San Jose Del Monte), the western portion of Camarines Norte (Santa Elena, Capalonga, Jose Panganiban, Paracale, Labo), the extreme western portion of Camarines Sur (Del Gallego, Ragay, Lupi, Sipocot, Libmanan, Cabusao, Pasacao, Pamplona), and Marinduque.
READ: NDRRMC alert as of 8:20 p.m.; 'Ambo' moving towards Bulacan
Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 2 remained hoisted over Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Apayao, Abra, Kalinga, La Union, Mt. Province, Benguet, the eastern portion of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Marinduque, the northern portion of Quezon, Pollilo Islands, the western portion of Camarines Norte and the western portion of Isabela.
Under signal no. 1 were Cagayan, including Babuyan Islands, Batanes, Zambales, Bataan, the rest of Pangasinan, the rest of Isabela, the rest of Quezon, the rest of Camarines Norte, the western portion of Camarines Sur and the northeastern portion of Oriental Mindoro.
Ambo is forecast to exit the Philippine area of responsibility on Tuesday morning.
Also on Friday, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged local leaders to adhere to social-distancing measures and other COVID-19-related health protocols in the evacuation of those who are in the path of the storm.
With thousands of Filipinos expected to be displaced by Typhoon Ambo, Gatchalian expressed fear that COVID-19 could quickly spread in evacuation centers if social distancing measures are not strictly observed. With AFP