Typhoon Hagupit weakens over Philippines - Y!NATION

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Typhoon Hagupit weakens over Philippines

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Typhoon Hagupit has weakened as it continues to slowly sweep across the Philippines causing some damage.

At least three people have been killed since the storm made landfall on Saturday but it does not appear to have been as severe as many had feared.

Around a million people have fled their homes because of the storm.

Correspondents say the storm is nowhere near as powerful as typhoon Haiyan, which killed thousands of people last year.

In Tacloban, badly hit by typhoon Haiyan, roofs have been blown away by Hagupit and streets are flooded.

Typhoon Hagupit brought winds of 140km/h (90mph) and gusts of 170km/h (105 mph) at 17:00 local time (0900 GMT) on Sunday, government forecaster Pagasa said.


Volunteers in Manila have helped to pack relief goods for those fleeing the storm

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Legazpi, about 200km (125 miles) north of Tacloban, said Hagupit was clearly still a powerful storm but nowhere near as dangerous as Haiyan.

Authorities say they were better prepared than in 2013, and organised the largest peacetime evacuation in the history of the Philippines.

Known locally as Typhoon Ruby, Hagupit has nonetheless caused major damage in several towns on the east coast of the Philippines.

The mayor of Dolores, where the hurricane first made landfall on Saturday, said that 80% of homes there had been destroyed. One resident reportedly died after a tree fell on him.

Another two people in the central province of Iloilo reportedly died from hypothermia.


Many houses were damaged in Tacloban when Typhoon Hagupit ripped through in 2013

Typhoon Hagupit slow to clear


At the scene: Saira Asher, BBC News, Legazpi

The main cities that have so far been in the path of Typhoon Hagupit look to have avoided major damage. But Northern and Eastern Samar are the big worry now, with many small communities that are isolated.

The Philippines Red Cross says their teams are trying to get into some of these areas, but floods or fallen trees blocking roads mean they are unreachable.

Until rescue teams can get to the isolated communities, we will not know the extent of the damage or the loss of life.

Hagupit is a slow-moving typhoon which means a higher risk of prolonged rain that can cause flooding and mudslides. While we may not be seeing the scenes of mass devastation we saw after Typhoon Haiyan, there is still cause for concern.


The typhoon is still travelling westwards across the Philippines, and is expected to cross Sibuyan island in the early hours of Monday. According to forecaster Pagasa, it is expected to leave Philippine territory on Thursday morning.

About 19,000 people from coastal villages are in 26 evacuation centres, Tacloban's disaster office spokesman Ilderando Bernadas told Reuters.

Haiyan - known as Yolanda in the Philippines - was the most powerful typhoon ever recorded over land. It tore through the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,000 dead or missing.


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