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| INQUIRER PHOTO/DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.
TYPHOON Glenda, the first strong typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, shut down Metro Manila when it slammed into Luzon on Wednesday, leaving a trail of death and destruction and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate.
At least 14 people were reported dead, two of them in Metro Manila. Some of the victims were crushed to death by falling trees and electric posts.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said three persons died in Cavite and three in Quezon—a pregnant mother and her two children who were killed when a wall collapsed on them while they were sleeping.
The NDRRMC added that 33,802 families were forced to evacuate nationwide.
Six areas were placed under a state of calamity—Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Cavite, Gumaca town (Quezon) and Muntinlupa City (Metro Manila).
The typhoon’s ferocious winds tore roofs off houses, overturned cars and ripped trees out of the ground in the megacity of Manila, as well as remote fishing villages hundreds of kilometers away.
Rammasun (Glenda’s international codename), which in Thai means “God of Thunder,” roared in from the Pacific Ocean with wind gusts of about 250 kilometers an hour and smashed into poor fishing communities on Tuesday night.
The eye of the storm just missed Manila, home to more than 12 million people, but the huge winds and bursts of heavy rain brought the city to a virtual standstill
Power in many areas, including the business district of Makati City (Metro Manila), was cut just after dawn as branches were torn off trees and electricity lines snapped.
The winds also tore down shanty homes in slum areas where hundreds of thousands of people live along Manila Bay.
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"I thought I was going to die. I went out to look for gasoline in case we needed to evacuate, but it was a mistake," said tricycle driver Pedro Rojas, 35, as he nursed a cut head while sheltering at a town hall on the outskirts of Manila.
"My tricycle rolled over twice after I slammed into sheets of rain. It was like hitting a wall... huge tin roofings were flying everywhere."
Falling trees, poles, and walls killed at least 20 people across the northern parts of the Philippines that Rammasun swept over with wind gusts approaching 200 kilometers an hour, authorities said.
The NDRRMC said five of the fatalities are from Quezon, three each from Rizal and Marinduque, two each from Cavite and Camarines Sur, and one each from Bulacan, Zambales, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, and Northern Samar.
"Glenda" also left seven others injured and five missing.
The NDRRMC said the number of casualties could still go up, as more reports from the provinces are verified.
Fatalities are included in the official death toll only after they have been verified by the Health Department or the Philippine National Police.
One of those killed was a rescue worker who died in the capital when a government building collapsed on him, while falling trees killed two elderly people in rural areas of a province neighboring Manila.going to die. I went out to look for gasoline in case we needed to evacuate, but it was a mistake," said tricycle driver Pedro Rojas, 35, as he nursed a cut head while sheltering at a town hall on the outskirts of Manila.
"My tricycle rolled over twice after I slammed into sheets of rain. It was like hitting a wall... huge tin roofings were flying everywhere."
Falling trees, poles, and walls killed at least 20 people across the northern parts of the Philippines that Rammasun swept over with wind gusts approaching 200 kilometers an hour, authorities said.
The NDRRMC said five of the fatalities are from Quezon, three each from Rizal and Marinduque, two each from Cavite and Camarines Sur, and one each from Bulacan, Zambales, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, and Northern Samar.
"Glenda" also left seven others injured and five missing.
The NDRRMC said the number of casualties could still go up, as more reports from the provinces are verified.
Fatalities are included in the official death toll only after they have been verified by the Health Department or the Philippine National Police.
One of those killed was a rescue worker who died in the capital when a government building collapsed on him, while falling trees killed two elderly people in rural areas of a province neighboring Manila.
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