Kyle Sooley-Brookings
May 17, 20201 min
Typhoon Vongfong hit the Philippines earlier this week. It is the first typhoon to hit the country this year. Although the area is frequented by typhoons.
Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to evacuate, fears of COVID-19 made the evacuations more difficult. The Philippines has about 12,000 COVID-19 cases.
When the storm hit, it was packing wind gusts up to 255 km/h.
The area was hit by flooding and landslides.
The outer reaches of Vongfong caused heavy rains in some provinces on May 13, causing flooding in Koronadal.
Power outages impacted Eastern Samar, downing communications in several towns. Strong winds damaged weaker homes and fishing boats and downed trees, blocking roads connecting Eastern Samar and Samar.
Homes and evacuation centers were damaged across five towns. The roof of an evacuation shelter collapsed, and one person was killed while seeking shelter after being struck by glass shards.
In addition to this fatality, at least two people are missing and one person was injured in Albay.