Aother super typhoon in the Pacific: Mitag

[malaise]

This one is heading for the Bicol region in the Phillipines. Manila will also be affected.
<snip>
Philippines authorities raced to evacuate up to one million people on Friday as Typhoon Mitag bore down on eastern areas devastated by storms last year.

Flatbed lorries, police-chartered vans and even rubbish trucks were pressed in to service as thousands of men, women and children were moved from vulnerable areas.

Mitag gathered strength overnight and was due to hit the Bicol peninsula, known as 'typhoon alley,' on Saturday, the local weather bureau said.

The peninsula bore the brunt of Super Typhoon Durian last year which killed 1,200 people and left 200,000 homeless.

Entire villages were obliterated and hundreds were swept to their deaths in mudslides triggered by Durian, which blew away houses and uprooted trees as it slammed into Albay and Bicol provinces.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=157698

[kdmorris]

1. Wonder why the picture says

March 5, 2002.

Either way, just another reminder that hurricanes don't just affect the U.S.A.

[malaise]

2. Maybe there was another Mittag in 2002

and I posted the wrong pix. Note the spelling. :D

Here's the new Mitag. Weather Channel said it should hit as a Cat 4 but it doesn't look that organized.
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/wp200724_sat.html

[symbolman]

3. Windy as hell here in Hawaii

I bet we are catching the back end of the damn thing - those poor bastards.. No global warming, indeed..

[Breeze54]

4. Those poor people...gheesh!

Philippines hunkers down as Typhoon Mitag nears

Fri Nov 23, 2007 8:11am EST

http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSSP177842

By Raju Gopalakrishnan

MANILA, Nov 23 (Reuters) -

Typhoon Mitag intensified as it moved slowly towards the Philippines on Friday, triggering
mass evacuations, flight cancellations and exacerbating flooding from a previous storm.

The typhoon has winds of 175 km per hour (108 miles per hour) at its centre and is forecast
to strengthen.

The storm is almost stationary east of the central Bicol region, the Philippines' typhoon alley,
on Friday evening, but was likely to make landfall on Saturday, weather officials said.

snip--->

Mitag, a woman's name pronounced Me-tok from Yap in the Pacific Ocean, is expected
to cut through Bicol before passing into the South China Sea by Monday.

It is currently a category 2 typhoon and is expected to intensify to a category 4 typhoon,
with winds up to 250 kph, on Saturday, according to storm tracker Web site

www.tropicalstormrisk.com.

Rains from the system are likely to affect most of the central and northern Philippines,
weather officials said.

The Red Cross said the repeated pounding of the north and central areas by storms threatened rebuilding efforts.

"What is particular about this is that these areas have been hit regularly for the last year,"
said Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippines National Red Cross.


More...

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:(

[cboy4]

5. Graphics