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WORLD NEWS Thursday 12 November 2020

Typhoon-ravaged northeast Philippines pummeled by new storm

By JIM GOMEZ tems.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — With its wide band of rain
A typhoon began batter- clouds, Typhoon Vamco
ing northeastern Philippine may pass about 50 kilome-
provinces Wednesday, ters (31 miles) north of the
leaving at least one person capital, Manila, at dawn
dead and three missing Thursday if it doesn't shift
in a region still struggling course, forecasters said.
to recover from a power- Classes and government
ful storm that left a trail of work were suspended in
death and destruction just the capital and outlying re-
over a week ago, officials gions Wednesday. Several
said. international and domes-
Typhoon Vamco strength- tic flights were canceled.
ened with sustained winds Seaports were closed and
of 140 kilometers (87 miles) ferry boats and cargo ships
per hour and gusts of up were prohibited from ven-
to 195 kph (121 mph) as it turing out to sea near the
barreled close to the Polillo typhoon's path, stranding
islands in Quezon province hundreds of commuters,
Wednesday night. Nearly officials said.
200,000 people have been Authorities warned of storm
evacuated to safety in the surges of up to 2 meters (6
region, some of them forc- A man in a raincoat rides his bicycle during heavy rains from Typhoon Vamco in Quezon city, feet) in Manila and outlying
ibly, officials said. Philippines on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. coastal cities, and villagers
Quezon and outlying prov- Associated Press along the coast and low-
inces have hardly recov- lying areas were advised to
ered from the devastation ployed disaster-response devastation, including in approached. move to safer ground.
wrought early this month contingents in high-risk the hard-hit island province The government's main The Philippines is hit by
by Typhoon Goni, which areas ahead of the on- of Catanduanes, where disaster-response agency about 20 typhoons and
blew ashore with destruc- slaught, Gapay said in a that typhoon made land- pleaded to the media to storms each year. It's also
tive super-typhoon force statement. fall on Nov. 1 and dam- help authorities relay ty- located on the so-called
but weakened after slam- Disaster-response officials aged or destroyed tens of phoon alerts in the Goni- Pacific "Ring of Fire," where
ming into mountain ranges reported flooding in 32 thousands of coastal shan- devastated northeastern earthquakes and volca-
and a string of island prov- towns near the country's ties, houses and buildings, region, saying it could not nic eruptions are com-
inces. One of the strongest northeastern coast and a including emergency shel- send messages by cell- mon, making it one of the
typhoons in the world this few landslides in the agri- ters, and knocked down phones due to damaged world's most disaster-prone
year, Goni left more than cultural region, where they power and communica- telecommunications sys- countries.q
30 people dead or miss- said a man died and three tions.
ing and damaged or de- others were missing, with- In Guinobatan town in
stroyed more than 270,000 out immediately providing nearby Albay province,
houses and shanties, many details. heavy rain generated by
along coastal villages. More than 187,000 villagers Goni washed down volca-
"This typhoon will test once fled to safety Wednesday, nic mud, debris and boul-
more our spirit, bruised but about half of them taking ders in a torrent of mud-
not broken," military chief shelter mostly in govern- flow that engulfed about
of staff Gen. Gilbert Gapay ment-run evacuation cen- 150 houses. The owners of
said of the new typhoon. ters, according to the Of- those houses remain dis-
Navy, air force and army fice of Civil Defense. placed and were warned
forces have remained on Tens of thousands of others against returning to the
high alert from the last remained displaced after mudflow-inundated com-
typhoon and again de- losing their homes in Goni's munity as the new typhoon

Puerto Rico unearths uncounted ballots

1 week after election

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) were found in a secured We have to admit that."
— Puerto Rico's elections vault and blamed the Rosado said he didn't know
commission said Tuesday situation on what he said yet how many total votes
that it has discovered more was an underfunded and are in the 126 briefcases,
than 100 briefcases con- understaffed administra- noting some contained
taining uncounted ballots tive board responsible for three ballots and others 500
a week after the U.S. terri- counting a record num- ballots. Officials initially said
tory held its general elec- ber of absentee and early there were 182 briefcases
tion, drawing criticism and votes. but later revised the num-
scorn from voters who now "We've identified, much to ber.
question the validity of the our regret, a disorganiza- "Every vote will be count-
outcomes of certain races. tion in the handling of ma- ed," he said. "I have to tell
Francisco Rosado, the terial in the vaults," he said the people of Puerto Rico
commission's new presi- at a press conference. "Mis- to trust the transparency of
dent, said the briefcases placed. Poorly organized. the process."q