With Yolanda’s massive destruction still ringing from last year, the Philippines is bracing typhoon ‘Ruby’ – said to possibly be the country’s biggest storm of the year, and is expected to make landfall in a few hours. Over 600,000 people from various provinces have already fled their homes as the military have been on full alert since early this morning.
‘Ruby’, which has winds reaching up to 220 km per hour, is expected to hammer parts of the country where Yolanda’s storm surges and ferocious winds left more than 7,300 people dead and missing in November last year. ‘Ruby’ has slightly weakened earlier today but remained dangerously powerful and erratic. Among the areas at risk is the city of Tacloban, which has yet to recover from the ravages of last year.
The number of people seeking refuge in evacuation centers began to swell in the city as early as Thursday as ‘Ruby’ (also named Hagupit) hurtled toward Eastern Visayas. By Friday afternoon, some 524 families had fled to the Anibong Elementary School, one of the identified evacuation centers located on higher ground.
Last year when Yolanda struck, the coastal village of Anibong was hit by a storm so powerful that at least five ships were grounded inland, but those who ran to the said school were saved.
Now, some 1,168 people from eight villages sought refuge in the state-run Leyte Normal University in downtown Tacloban, and arrivals continued to swell by the hour.
“We are actually prepared for 1,300 people. We have also prepared spaces for LNU families. We have plans in case water will rise… All guards and even janitors are on the premises,” said Clemelle Montallana, a professor now in charge of occupancy and crowd control.
Montallana added the university formed an emergency assistance group composed of LNU employees under the supervision of university president Jude Duarte. Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez earlier announced that the city’s forced evacuation has been ongoing, and urged those who did not live in the city to leave while they still had time.
The United Nations have estimated that some 600,000 people have already been evacuated to safety while nearly 100 domestic flights have been canceled and inter-island ferry services suspended, stranding thousands of commuters.