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Typhoon Goni: Fears after Philippine municipality said to be 90% damaged
Monday, 02 November 2020 - 14:10 | Views - 503

There are fears a typhoon which slammed into the Philippines may have damaged 90% of the buildings in the first town it struck, the Red Cross has said.

Philippines Chairman Dick Gordon said a "visual" assessment showed that Virac, home to 70,000 people, had been badly affected by Typhoon Goni.

At least 16 people were killed after Goni made landfall on Catanduanes island as a super typhoon on Sunday.

It has now been downgraded to a tropical storm.

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, though the storm spared the capital Manila.

Goni - known as Rolly in the Philippines - is the most powerful storm to hit the country since Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people in 2013.

What damage has Goni caused?

Virac was the first urban area on Catanduanes to be hit by the storm. Communication lines have been down since Sunday and it has been difficult getting information out of the area.

The Red Cross confirmed to the BBC that teams on the ground had made a "visual" assessment which suggested between "80-90%" of the municipality's buildings were damaged by the storm.

 

Mr Gordan said the current damage to the town was "like 70% of [Typhoon] Haiyan's damage".

At least six people have died across the island province of Catanduanes. The Philippine Red Cross has also said there is no access to electricity, no water and no cellular network.

However, there is said to be little damage to the region's airport and seaports.

 

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