Super Typhoon Goni Tears through the Philippines

Super Typhoon Goni is one of the strongest tropical storms of 2020. (Wikimedia Commons) 

Super Typhoon Goni, one of the strongest storms recorded in history, tore through the Philippines in the first week of November. It killed at least 20 people and displaced more than 450,000 others. Goni made landfall on the island of Catanduanes in the Bicol region of Luzon on November 1. The storm qualified as a super typhoon by the time it made landfall, with winds above 140 miles per hour. Goni is the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, which killed more than 6,000 people. 

Typhoon Goni, called “Rolly” by locals, hit peak winds of 195 miles per hour before landfall—making it equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane. It is the eighteenth typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, though this falls within the country’s annual average of twenty typhoons. 

Mark Timbal of the Philippines’ National Disaster Agency warned that the typhoon presented multiple “danger zones for landslides, flooding storm surges, and even a lava flow.” Office of Civil Defense Division Chief Jessar Adornado explained how most of the recorded deaths were caused by these landslides and floods. Beside damaging buildings, Typhoon Goni incurred 1.1 billion pesos worth of damage to crops. This is in addition to the 1.8 billion pesos of damage Typhoon Molave had previously incurred in late October. Fortunately, early warning allowed the Philippines to save 1.07 million metric tons of rice from Typhoon Goni, according to the Department of Agriculture.  

Handling the COVID-19 pandemic made it particularly challenging to prepare for Typhoon Goni in the Philippines. Although familiar with typhoons, the Philippines struggled with facing the “dual threat with COVID-19 and climate change,” said 350.org Asia Regional Director Norly Mercado. Executing socially-distanced evacuations caused problems, especially since the Philippines has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia. The widespread power outages also caused concern for the effects on the cold management of COVID-19 supplies, such as test kits. The Philippines Red Cross Chairman said that Typhoon Goni added to the “physical, emotional, and economic toll of Covid-19.”  

Leaders of the Philippines gathered on the evening of November 1 for a televised press conference on how to handle the typhoon, with the notable exception of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Spokesman Harry Roque explained that the Duterte could not join the press conference since it was impossible for him to travel from his home in Davao to Manila.  Nevertheless, the tag #NasaanAngPangulo (Where is the president?) trended on Twitter this week.  

Typhoon Goni was downgraded to tropical storm status by November 2 and moved on from the Philippines toward Vietnam. However, another storm, Atsani, is shaping up to become the second typhoon to hit the Philippines this week.