Powerful typhoon slams Philippines

Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines

One of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded slammed into the Philippines today, cutting communications and blocking roads in the center of the country amid worries of serious damage and casualties.

Telephone lines appeared down as it was difficult to get through to the landfall site 405 miles southeast of Manila where Typhoon Haiyan slammed into a rural area of the country.

Weather officials said that Haiyan had sustained winds at 147 miles per hour, with gusts of 170 mph when it made landfall at Eastern Samar province’s Guiuan township.

The local weather bureau makes estimates based on longer periods of time than others, such as the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center, which said shortly before the typhoon made landfall that its maximum sustained winds were195 mph, with gusts up to 235 mph.

“195-mile-per-hour winds, there aren’t too many buildings constructed that can withstand that kind of wind,” said Jeff Masters, a former hurricane meteorologist who is meteorology director at the private firm Weather Underground.

Masters said the storm had been poised to be the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded at landfall. He warned of “catastrophic damage.”

More than 125,000 people had been evacuated from towns and villages in the typhoon’s path, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.