Officials said a father, his three children and one other relative were amongst those missing in Iloilo province, which was hit hard after a swollen river flooded their hut.
One disaster response officer described the devastated coastal town of Batad in Iloilo province as a “ghost town” on Christmas Day.
“You couldn’t see anyone because there was total blackout, you couldn’t hear anything. The city looked like a ghost town,” Cindy Ferrer from the regional Office of Civil Defense said by phone.
Phanfone also visited Boracay, Coron and other holiday destinations famous for his or her white sand beaches and popular with foreign tourists.
Mobile phone and web access in Boracay was cut off through the storm, and networks were still down on Thursday, making it difficult to evaluate the damage.
“Still, communication lines are down. There’s still no electricity,” said Jonathan Pablito, police chief in the Malay town in Alkan province, which is on an island neighboring Boracay.
Pablito said ferries between Boracay and Aklan – the main mode of transportation to and from the holiday island – were still not operating on Thursday even though the storm had passed.
“We have no word from the coast guard as to whether the ships will be able to sail. Since the 24th… everyone going to and returning from the island has not been able to cross to the other side,” Pablito said.
According to a Korean tourist who was stranded there, the airport within the town of Kalibo in Aklan, serving Boracay, was severely damaged.
“Roads remain blocked but some efforts have been made to clear the damage. It’s really bad,” Jung Byung-joon said via Instagram messenger.
“Everything within 100 meters of the airport looks broken. There are a lot of frustrated people at the airport due to flight cancellations,” Jung said. “Taxis are still running, but it’s windy and still raining, so no one, including me, wants to leave the airport.”
Another Korean tourist stranded on the damaged airport said she was unable to make contact together with her friend in Borocay on Thursday.
“I tried calling my friend in Boracay today but I couldn’t get through. Maybe something isn’t working,” Dahae Gong said on Instagram. “I don’t know when I can go home.”
The storm weakened slightly on Thursday as it moved into the South China Sea with sustained winds of 120 kilometers (74 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 150 km/h (93 mph), after pounding additional islands on Christmas Day wind and heavy rain. – the weather agency reported.
Typhoon Kammuri’s flooding forces tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in the Philippines
Typhoon Kammuri’s flooding forces tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in the Philippines
The typhoon hit the eastern province of Samar on Christmas Eve and then rolled through the archipelago’s central region on Christmas Day, hitting seven coastal cities and island provinces without losing power, government forecasters said.
Provincial authorities, the military, police and volunteers spent Christmas away from home, caring for thousands of displaced residents in city middle schools and schools turned into emergency shelters.
More than 25,000 people were stranded at seaports in the central region and outlying provinces after the coast guard banned ferries and cargo ships from sailing into dangerously rough waters. Dozens of domestic flights to and from the region were canceled.
“It’s like Haiyan’s younger sibling. It is less devastating but is following a similar path,” said Cindy Ferrer, information specialist on the Western Visayas Disaster Office.
The Philippines is the primary large land mass facing the Pacific typhoon belt and is hit by a median of about 20 major storms per yr.
Many storms are deadly and typically destroy crops, homes and infrastructure, keeping thousands and thousands of individuals in constant poverty.
The Southeast Asian country can also be positioned within the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are frequent, making this country of over 100 million one of the crucial disaster-prone on this planet.
This article appeared within the print edition of the South China Morning Post as: Typhoon Phanfone kills not less than 20 people
