People stranded in evacuation centers and at ports as Typhoon Phanfone passes over string of islands
Typhoon Phanfone has pummelled the central (Philippines) ********************** on Christmas Day, bringing a wet and miserable holiday season to millions. Thousands were stranded at shuttered ports or evacuation centers while others sheltered in rain-soaked homes as Phanfone crossed from one island to another for the second day.
The typhoon toppled houses and trees and blacked out cities in the Philippines ’most storm-prone region. More than (******************************************************************************************, people spent the night in schools, gyms and government buildings hastily converted into evacuation centers as the typhoon made landfall on Tuesday, civil defense officials said.
“It was frightening. The glass windows shattered and we took cover by the stairs, ”said Ailyn Metran after she and her four-year-old child spent the night at the local state weather service office where her husband worked. The family returned to their home in Tacloban city on Wednesday to find their two dogs safe but the floor was covered in mud and a fallen tree on their house.
More islands along lay in Phanfone’s projected path towards the South China Sea.
More than (**********************************************************************************, people trying to get home for the traditional Christmas Eve midnight dinner remained stranded at ports on Christmas Day with ferry services closed, the coast guard said. Scores of flights to the region also remained cancelled, though the capital Manila, on the northern edge, was being spared.
The Philippines is the first major landmass facing the Pacific cyclone belt and gets hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year. A study by the Manila-based Asian Development Bank found the most frequent storms cut 1% from the Philippine economic output and the stronger ones by nearly 3%.
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