(Eagle News) — In these photos provided by Eagle News correspondent Jabes Juanite in Surigao del Norte, a concrete road in Bgy. Songkoy, Socorro town in Surigao del Norte proved no match for Typhoon Odette’s fury as the typhoon with maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 230 km/hr first pummeled the province and other areas in Visayas and Mindanao on Thursday, December 16, 2021.
Surigao del Norte including Siargao and Bucas Grande Islands, along with Dinagat Islands, in Mindanao, and the provinces of Southern Leyte, and the eastern portion of Bohol bore the brunt of Odette’s rage when it hit the country on Thursday. They were all placed under signal no. 4 as of PAGASA’s 2 p.m. weather bulletin.
Other provinces and areas in the Visayas region were also placed under signal no. 4. These are Southern Leyte, the southwestern portion of Leyte (Hilongos, Bato, Matalom), Bohol, the central and southern portions of Cebu (Lapu-Lapu City, Cordova, Cebu City, Mandaue City, Compostela, Liloan, Consolacion, Toledo City, City of Talisay, Minglanilla, City of Naga, Pinamungahan, San Fernando, City of Carcar, Aloguinsan, Barili, Sibonga, Dumanjug, Argao, Alcantara, Ronda, Moalboal, Badian, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Malabuyoc, Alegria)
Odette (international name Rai) further intensified at around 1:30 p.m. with maximum sustained winds of 195 km/hr and gusts of 240 km/hr. This was comparable supertyphoon Yolanda’s strength when it first entered the Philippine area of responsibility.
Trees were also felled by typhoon Odette lashed at the areas in its path.