Typhoon Man-yi caused significant damage to homes in Viga, located in Catanduanes province, in the northeastern Philippines on Sunday, November 17, 2024. AP Photos
A powerful typhoon struck the northern Philippines on Sunday, causing widespread destruction, massive tidal surges, and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to seek refuge in emergency shelters. Typhoon Man-yi, the sixth major storm to hit the country in less than a month, made landfall in the eastern island province of Catanduanes late on Saturday night. With winds of up to 195 kilometres per hour (125 miles per hour) and gusts reaching 240 km/h (149 mph), the typhoon prompted urgent warnings from the country's weather agency about a "potentially catastrophic and life-threatening situation."
Although there were no immediate reports of casualties, the typhoon left its mark on the region as it continued to move northwestward on Sunday, heading towards the northern part of Luzon, the Philippines' most populous island. Metro Manila, the capital region, was not expected to experience a direct hit but was placed under storm alerts, with warnings about dangerous coastal storm surges. Coastal areas were particularly affected by the tidal surges, which reached over seven meters (23 feet) in some places.
Roberto Monterola, a disaster-response officer in Catanduanes, described the eerie howling sound of the typhoon's winds and the immense tidal surges that hit the seaside areas. "Along a main boulevard here, the tidal surges went up to more than seven metres near the seaside houses. It looked really scary," he shared in an interview. The typhoon also knocked down trees and electricity posts, leaving the entire province without power. Authorities were assessing the extent of the damage, including the toll from previous storms, and disaster teams were working to provide immediate assistance to affected residents.
With nearly half of Catanduanes' 80,000 residents sheltering in evacuation centers, local officials were forced to take extreme measures. In some areas, people were threatened with arrest if they refused to evacuate their homes as the storm approached. In total, over 750,000 people across the northern Philippines sought shelter in emergency centers, including churches and shopping malls.
This storm was one in a series of back-to-back typhoons that had devastated the region in the past few weeks. The Philippines had already faced significant destruction from previous storms, which had caused the deaths of over 160 people, affecting around 9 million people, and led to severe damage to infrastructure, homes, and farmlands. The economic toll of the storms was also immense, with the country facing potential shortages of rice, a staple food, due to the damage to farms.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called for an emergency meeting to prepare for "the worst-case scenario" as Man-yi approached, urging local officials and disaster-response teams to remain vigilant. Airports and ports were closed, and ferry services were suspended across the region due to rough seas, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
The United States, along with countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei, provided much-needed aid in the form of cargo aircraft and disaster response teams to assist the overwhelmed local agencies. With the Philippines already one of the most disaster-prone nations in the world, facing around 20 typhoons annually, the ongoing storms have left the country grappling with a dire humanitarian crisis.
