Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) made landfall over Guiuan in Eastern Samar at 4:40 a.m. Friday, PAGASA weather forecasters said. In its 5 a.m. advisory, PAGASA said Yolanda came with maximum sustained winds of 235 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 275 kph. At least 21 areas were placed under Storm Signal No. 4.[i]
The U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center however put Haiyan’s sustained winds at 315 kph (196 mph) just minutes before it made landfall Thursday, which would be a world record. But officials in Tokyo and the Philippines put the wind speed at about 235 kph (147 mph), adding that they considered Tokyo the authority in this case because it was the closest regional center to the storm. Still whether it was 315 or 235 kph, Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) was easily one of the strongest on record, former U.S. National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield told the Associated Press that Friday. As he looked at the radar images of Haiyan, Mayfield reportedly kept muttering to himself: “It has got to weaken, it has got to weaken.” But it didn’t.[ii]
No doubt the strength of the massive super typhoon was record-setting. At 9:45 p.m. ET, The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang reported: "With estimated maximum sustained winds of 195 mph, it is thought to be the strongest storm to ever make landfall anywhere in the world in modern records." Those winds speeds would be 5 mph higher than the recorded maximum sustained winds of Hurricane Camille in 1969, Super Typhoon Tipin 1979 and Hurricane Allen in 1980. Jeff Masters, meteorology director and founder of Weather Underground in Ann Arbor, Mich., told Bloomberg that the power of Haiyan is "off the charts."
The impact of the storm on Guiuan and nearby towns was simply horrific. “Situated where the Philippines meets the Pacific Ocean, Guiuan had the look and feel of a tropical paradise -- replete with surf camps, resorts and pristine white beaches. Its location on Samar Island's southeastern tip, in many ways, had been Guiuan's greatest blessing. And Now? It could be seen as its greatest curse,” wrote the CNN.[iii]
Being the first outsider to reach Guiuan in a chopper after its devastation, Col. John Sanchez wrote in his Facebook account: ”One hundred percent of the structures either had their roofs blown away or sustained major damage. Nearly all coconut trees fell. We saw people in the streets, seemingly dazed. Trucks and cars were left in the streets where they were stopped in their tracks as Yolanda struck.” Television footage from Eastern Samar province’s Guiuan township showed a trail of devastation. Many houses were flattened and roads were strewn with debris and uprooted trees. The ABS-CBN footage showed several bodies laid out on the street, covered only with blankets.[iv]
No one was spared, rich or poor. Death was a common experience told by survivors. A fisherman Carlito Arias, who lived close to the shore in Guiuan, recalled how the raging waters from the sea swallowed up his wife and four children when they laid low on the ground after their house was razed by the strong winds. “The water came in. First to my knees. It quickly rose up to my chest, then to my neck. A wave came from the shore...until I was completely submerged.” He could do nothing to save his family.[v]
In nearby Mercedes, a town adjoining Guiuan, Manuel Isquierdo and his wife sought refuge in the limestone den just at the back of their house at past midnight of Thursday. Soon after, their house made of light materials crumpled to the ground after being battered by the strong winds. They were later joined by two other families and together, they spent more than six hours in the dark, damp cavern as the storm surge waters edged dangerously closer and closer to the entrance of the cave. They were frightened that they would drown or be swept out to the sea. “We could hear the typhoon outside. It sounded like a bulldozer. We were afraid of the sea, afraid that the storm surge would flood the cave,” Isquierdo said.[vi]
In the coastal town of Basey some 118 kilometers away west of Guiuan, at around 7 AM, Yolanda started to hammer at its fragile houses and structures. Veteran news reporter Ricky Bautista, who had tried to reinforce his house in Barangay Canmanila a day earlier, hid under the table with his wife and kids as his house was “like being pelted with sand and stone” at the height of the storm. Given its strength, it could have easily swept his house away, he added.
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[i] “Yolanda makes landfall in Guiuan, Eastern Samar – PAGASA,” November 8, 2013 5:19am, GMA
[ii] “One of world’s strongest typhoons lashes Philippines,” Associated Press, 8:05 am, Saturday, November 9th, 2013
[iii] Anna Coren and Greg Botelho , “Everything is gone in Guiuan, tropical paradise forever transformed by typhoon,” CNN, November 12, 2013
[iv] Phillips, Jack, “Guiuan in Ruins After Typhoon Yolanda Hits,” Epoch Times, November 9, 2013
[v] “The Inside story of typhoon Haiyan,” Discovery Channel
[vi] “It’s back to Stone Age for some Eastern Samar folk,” AFP, 2:20 am Tuesday, November 19th, 2013
[vii] Balabo, Dino, “On loss and survival,” PNEJ, story originally posted at http://promdino.blogspot.com/
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