At least 10 dead after ‘Rolly’ pummels Bicol region with Category 5 winds – NDRRMC

Residents stand next to cars damaged after a gymnasium collapsed at the height of super Typhoon Goni after it hit Tabaco, Albay province, south of Manila on November 1, 2020. – At least 10 people were killed as Typhoon Goni pounded the Philippines on November 1, ripping off roofs, toppling power lines and causing flooding in the hardest-hit areas where hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. (Photo by Charism SAYAT / AFP)

(Eagle News) – At least 10 people were reported killed after then Super Typhoon Rolly (Goni) battered the Bicol region with its very strong Category 5 winds comparable to Super Typhoon Haiyan of 2013.

“Rolly” had maximum sustained winds of over 225 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 310 kph when it hit the Bicol region. It first made its landfall in Bato, Catanduanes early Sunday, Nov. 1. Its second landfall was on Tiwi, Albay at 7:20 a.m. Sunday.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Executive Director Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, who is also the administrator of the Office of the Civil Defense, said that that they are still collating the various reports on the ground, including the cost of damage to property, infrastructure and agriculture caused by “Rolly.”

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Executive Director Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, who is also the administrator of the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) says 1t least 10 casualties were reported due to Super Typhoon Rolly in the Bicol region. (Screengrab of Nov. 2 press briefing aired over PTV 4)

Preemptive evacuation helped minimize casualties — Año-

Secretary Eduardo Año of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said that because of preemptive evacuation, the number of casualties was minimized.

“We were actually targeting zero casualty,” Año said in a press briefing on Tuesday morning, Nov. 2, a day after the intense battering of Super Typhoon Rolly in Bicol region.

Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año during a briefing on the effects of Super Typhoon Rolly on Monday, Nov. 2, 2020. (Screengrab photo during televised briefing)

Close to 100,000 families were preemptively evacuated before “Rolly” started unleashing its fury in the main island of Luzon, particularly in the Bicol region.

Rollly (Goni) has weakened into a tropical storm Sunday night, and is expected to further weaken into a tropical depression before it exits the country on Tuesday morning, Nov. 3.

At 4 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2, the center of Tropical Storm “ROLLY” was estimated based on all available data at 100 km West Southwest of Subic Bay (14.6 °N, 119.4 °E ), PAGASA said. Rolly is moving West Northwestward at 20 km/h, with maximum sustained winds of 65 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 80 km/h, according to PAGASA, the country’s weather bureau.

(Eagle News Service)