|
On the 2nd of November, 2013, the Typhoon alert center of the American Army started to track (from its seat in Pearl Harbor), a low pressure area found above the Pacific, 425 km South-East of the Micronosia Islands. The estimates of weather reports started talking about a tropical storm created within 72 hours.
During the following days, the wind became stronger and stronger, and when it reached the Phillipines on the 8th of November, it had already reached monsterous proportions. These are some of the photos that documented the chaos this storm caused just a few days ago.
|
 |
| Filipino man standing on the roof of his house, watching the ominous clouds, Manila. |
|
|
 |
| Satellite photo of the storm hitting the Philippines. The center of the storm, the rest part, is called 'the eye'. Winds in the eye reach an amazing speed of 378 kph (234 mph). The storm made 5 transitions from sea to land, due to the many islands in its destructive path. |
|
|
 |
| A house completely dismantled by the awesome power of the storm. In addition to the direct hit, the storm also created a mud slide and cut off the communication and transport abilities of the island state. |
|
|
 |
| Families huddling in a sports gym made into a shelter. |
|
|
 |
| Filipino woman trying to hide from the rain in any way she can. |
|
|
 |
| A desperate man trying to reinforce his house using banana trees. |
|
|
 |
| A mother protecting her children from the rain. Millions must flee their homes. |
|
|
 |
| An army truck helps evacuate the refugees while a maintenance man works to fix the electricity. |
|
|
 |
| Locals following the beach line during the storm. |
|
|
 |
| The winds of the storm made the ocean dangerous and cruel. |
|
|
 |
| A fisherman collects his fishing gear after he managed to survive the storm at sea and make it safely back to shore. |
|
|
 |
| Winds of up to 400 kph (248 mph) tore out trees like they were weeds. |
|
|
 |
| Kids will be kids. Playing on the beach even in the midst of all this chaos. |
|
|
 |
| Satellite photo of the storm hitting the Philippines, the eye of the storm looks like a white spiral between Australia in the south and China in the north. |
|
|
 |
| Girls riding bicycle down the shore line as waves snap angrily beside them. |
|
|
 |
| Wreckage and debris wash through the streets in the wake of the storm. |
|
|
 |
| The city Tacloban took one of the worst hits. The storm completely destroyed 80% of the city. |
|
|
 |
| A symbolic photos of the Filipino flag. |
|
|
 |
| Surveying the damage: A man and boy stand besides the ruins of what used to be their home a few short hours ago. |
|
|
 |
| The reports coming out of the Philippines speak of 4 millions citizens affected in one way or another. |
|
|
 |
| "Welcome to Tacloban" |
|
|
 |
| Vast areas flooded and whole fields were destroyed in the huge rainfall that came with the deadly storm. |
|
|
 |
| The destruction from a bird's eye view. |
|
|
 |
| What used to be a rural neighborhood by the shore became utter chaos, as if some rude giant stepped on this tropical paradise. |
|
|
 |
| Wreckage upon wreckage. Some of the strongest winds ever documented, and they left very few stones still standing. |
|
|
 |
| An amazing photo taken from the International Space Station, and at the center of it - The typhoon. |
|
|
 |
| A Filipino woman standing helpless in front of so much destruction. |
|
|
 |
| The storm has made it almost impossible to tell land from sea. |
|
|
 |
| The army comes to the aid of citizens in the local airport, which has suffered heavy damages. It will take some time for life in the Phillipines to get back to normal. |
|
|
 |
| The storm destroyed homes and threw about cars as if they were leaves. Initial assessments talked about 1,200 dead, but by the time the storm passed, that number climbed to 10,000 and who knows how many more injured. The storm is proceeding to Vietnam, where it is expected to get even more violent. |
|
|
