Super Typhoon Slams the Philippines

Posted on Oct 18, 2010

AP / Bullit Marquez

Two people on a motorbike drive past a gas station toppled by Typhoon Megi on Monday in Cauayan City in the northeastern Philippines.

The Philippines has had its share of weather-borne excitement already this year, as a whopping 10 typhoons have made their way to its shores, and the 10th has qualified for the special and menacing category of “super typhoon.”  With winds approaching 155 miles per hour, the storm, known as Megi or Juan, depending on who you ask, rumbled through the island of Luzon on Monday.  —KA

ABC News:

The Red Cross says Megi is the biggest typhoon to hit the Phillippines in decades, and that its impact could be devastating.

“It’s a very, very big typhoon that’s hitting our country, biggest in the last 20 years,” Philippine National Red Cross chairman Senator Richard Gordon said.

“It could inundate coastal areas, river banks and it might cause landslides.

“Right now everybody is hunkered down, so communication is kind of difficult at the moment. We’re getting all our volunteers to text us or call us in case the situation turns sour.”

Tropical Storm Risk said Megi, known locally as Juan, was a category 5 super typhoon, the highest rating, with winds of more than 250 kph when it hit mountains in north-east Luzon.

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