Giant Typhoon Goes to Vietnam

User Rating: 4 / 5

Star ActiveStar ActiveStar ActiveStar ActiveStar Inactive
 

 

Storm of the Century Hits Asia

 

After many deaths (some say in the thousands) it appears the Giant Typhoon is now going inland to Vietnam.People there are bracing for the livelihood of mass destruction and loss of lives and properties so eminent.

 

The Red Cross is requesting blood donations in the area and requesting volunteers to help.

 

 

As dawn approached the Philippines on Saturday, the devastation of Super Typhoon Haiyan is expected to become better known a day after the storm -- perhaps the strongest ever -- rampaged across the central isles of the archipelago.An early report by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council indicated at least three people were killed, but there were widespread fears of a much higher death toll. At least seven people were hurt, according the council's report on Friday.The destruction is expected to be catastrophic. Storm clouds covered the entire Philippines, stretching 1,120 miles -- equal to a distance between Florida and Canada. The deadly wind field, or tropical storm force winds, covered an area the size of Montana or Germany.The typhoon first roared onto the country's eastern island of Samar at 4:30 a.m. Friday, flooding streets and knocking out power and communications in many areas of the region of Eastern Visayas, and then continued its march, barreling into five other Philippine islands.Then, predawn Saturday, it headed toward Vietnam.Haiyan weakened Saturday and was no longer a super typhoon, rather a typhoon with sustained winds of 145 mph (230 kph). But the storm could return to super typhoon status Saturday. The center of Haiyan will land again Sunday morning near the Vietnamese cities of Da Nang and Hue.Philippine military helicopters were scheduled to take aerial surveys of the damage Saturday. Meanwhile, Haiyan was over the South China Sea on Saturday morning.After the storm passed over his family's home in Cebu City, Chris Ducker told CNN by phone Saturday that his family was safe, but "it's been quite a harrowing day to say the least." Part of his roof was ripped off, leaking water, he said.When Haiyan hit Cebu City on Friday morning, it awakened Ducker."The first thing I noticed straightaway as soon as my eyes opened was the howling of the winds around the house," said Ducker, whose home is in the mountains with a 360-degree view