Good evening, this is 630 News. I am Sammi Fernandez. Off to our top story: chaos in the Philippines as one of the largest and most powerful storms in history causes massive damage to the archipelago.
The typhoon Haiyan (海燕), also given the local designation Yolanda, made landfall at 4:30 am in the province of Eastern Samar on Friday with winds of up to 315 km/h and gusts of up to 380 km/h, causing flooding and cutting off communications in several provinces in the eastern Visayas region.
At least three people were killed and seven injured, according to a report released by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, but it is likely that there are more casualties. Thousands more are currently staying in emergency evacuation shelters across at least 25 provinces.
The storm has weakened significantly since entering the archipelago, now with maximum sustained winds of 175 km/h and gusts of up to 210 km/h. At 4:00 am PHT on Saturday, the center of the storm was located about 400 km west of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro province, and is now heading west towards Vietnam travelling at 41 km/h.
Haiyan is the second category 5 storm to hit the islands since Usagi (Odette) in September.
Also, do we seriously have a hurricane icon? >_>