Super Typhoon Goni Kills 10 in the Philippines

 Published: November 1, 2020

Super Typhoon Goni made landfall in the Philippines early Sunday, where it's brought deadly flooding and mudslides as well as destructive winds.

Goni had maximum sustained winds of 195 mph when it roared into the eastern Philippines. That made Goni the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall anywhere on earth since 2013's Super Typhoon Haiyan, which also made landfall in the Philippines.

Goni is locally known as Rolly in the Philippines.

At least nine people were killed in the hard-hit province of Albay, including a father and son. Villagers fled to safety as the typhoon approached, but the two apparently stayed put in the community in Guinobatan town where about 150 houses were inundated by volcanic mudflow.

“The child was found 15 kilometers (9 miles) away,” Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara told DZMM radio, adding that the boy was swept away by mudflows and found in the next town.

He did not say whether there were any other residents trapped by the rampaging mudflows in the community and added that downed communications made it hard for people to communicate. The Office of Civil Defense reported that three Guinobatan residents were missing, but it was not immediately clear if they were from the mudflow-hit community.

An All-Terrain Vehicle is toppled by strong winds and floods from Typhoon Goni as it hits Daraga, Albay province, central Philippines, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. The super typhoon slammed into the eastern Philippines with ferocious winds early Sunday and about a million people have been evacuated in its projected path, including in the capital where the main international airport was ordered closed.

The other deaths in Albay included a villager who was pinned by a fallen tree. One person was killed in Catanduanes province.

Ricardo Jalad, who heads the government’s disaster-response agency, had feared that the typhoon could wreak major damage due to its enormous force. The Philippine weather agency reinforced those concerns, saying that within 12 hours after the typhoon’s landfall, people could face “catastrophic, violent winds and intense to torrential rainfall.”

Residents were warned of possible landslides, massive flooding, storm surges of up to 5 meters (16 feet) and powerful winds that can blow away shanties. But after hitting a mountain range and repeatedly slamming into coastal provinces, the typhoon gradually weakened, although it remained potentially deadly as it blew out into the South China Sea, forecasters said.

Manila’s main airport was ordered shut down for 24 hours from Sunday to Monday, and airlines canceled dozens of international and domestic flights. Commuter train services were also suspended and a no-sail policy restriction was imposed by the coast guard due to initial fear over the typhoon’s threatening power. The military and national police, along with the coast guard, were put on full alert.

Jalad said nearly a million people were preemptively moved into emergency shelters.

In a Manila gymnasium that was turned into an emergency shelter, COVID-19 outbreaks were an added worry of displaced residents. The Philippines has had more than 383,000 cases of the virus, the second-most in Southeast Asia behind Indonesia.

“We are scared — our fears are doubled,” said Jaqueline Almocera, a 44-year-old street vendor who took cover at the shelter.

Goni is not expected to strengthen as tracks through the South China Sea over the next few days. However, it could bring more flooding rainfall to Vietnam.

Deadly October in the Philippines and Vietnam

A persistent storm track has taken storm after storm through central Vietnam, and recently the Philippines has gotten involved.

Most recently, in the last week, Typhoon Molave took a very similar storm track across the central Philippines and then central Vietnam, but was considerably weaker in the Philippines.

Molave killed more than 50 people in the two countries, including 16 in the Philippines.

The devastation has been even more widespread in Vietnam, where tropical storms Linfa and Nangka, the remnants of two other tropical systems and Molave moved across the country in October alone.

More than 200 people have died, many of which died in flooding, in Vietnam during the month.

At least one location in central Vietnam received more than 125 inches of rainfall during the month of October.

Behind Goni, another system named Atsani is expected to near the Philippines' northern island of Luzon by the middle of the week as a typhoon.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.