MANILA, Philippines: At least one person was killed and three were missing as the Philippines faces what could be “the most damaging” storm this year in the approaching Typhoon Sarika, officials said Saturday.
A man was found dead on the seashore while three fishermen were reported missing in the eastern island of Catanduanes as Sarika, packing maximum winds of 180 kilometers (112 miles) per hour, passed nearby, the civil defense office said.
Although the storm did not hit the island directly, its strong winds and heavy rains still knocked out all power and telephone lines for the more than 246,000 residents of Catanduanes, the office added.
While the typhoon is not the most powerful to hit the country this year, it could cause the most damage as it will cross heavily-populated areas just north of Manila, said government weather forecaster Benison Estareja.
“We can see from the radar that the storm is very destructive. It can destroy wooden houses, it can topple trees. It can possibly rip off roofs,” he told AFP.
“This could so far, be the most damaging typhoon this year,” Estareja said.
Sarika is forecast to hit the province of Aurora on the east coast of the main island of Luzon before dawn Sunday, he said.
It is expected to cross central Luzon before heading out to sea by Sunday evening, he added.
“This one will have an impact because most of the people are in (that part of) Luzon. Even Metropolitan Manila will be affected,” he warned.
These areas will experience strong winds and heavy rains, with coastal areas at risk of storm surges of up to two meters (more than six feet), the forecaster said.
Low-lying areas will be at risk of flooding while mountainous areas could suffer landslides.
Although the storm did not hit the eastern region of Bicol, that area experienced heavy rains as it passed nearby on Saturday, said civil defense spokeswoman Rachel Miranda.
More than 400 people were evacuated from their homes and sea and air travel in these areas has been suspended as a safety precaution, officials said.
The Philippine islands are often the first major landmass to be hit by storms that generate over the Pacific Ocean. The Southeast Asian archipelago endures about 20 major storms each year, many of them deadly.
Haiyan, the strongest typhoon ever recorded to hit land, smashed into the central Philippines on November 8, 2013, leaving 7,350 people dead or missing.
One dead as Philippines faces ‘most damaging typhoon’
One dead as Philippines faces ‘most damaging typhoon’
Italian police fire tear gas as protesters clash near Winter Olympics hockey venue
- Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue
MILAN: Italian police fired tear gas and a water cannon at dozens of protesters who threw firecrackers and tried to access a highway near a Winter Olympics venue on Saturday.
The brief confrontation came at the end of a peaceful march by thousands against the environmental impact of the Games and the presence of US agents in Italy.
Police held off the violent demonstrators, who appeared to be trying to reach the Santagiulia Olympic ice hockey rink, after the skirmish. By then, the larger peaceful protest, including families with small children and students, had dispersed.
Earlier, a group of masked protesters had set off smoke bombs and firecrackers on a bridge overlooking a construction site about 800 meters (a half-mile) from the Olympic Village that’s housing around 1,500 athletes.
Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue. A heavy police presence guarded the entire route.
There was no indication that the protest and resulting road closure interfered with athletes’ transfers to their events, all on the outskirts of Milan.
The demonstration coincided with US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Milan as head of the American delegation that attended the opening ceremony on Friday.
He and his family visited Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” closer to the city center, far from the protest, which also was against the deployment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to provide security to the US delegation.
US Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to assist with security. The ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdown in the US is known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there is no indication its officers are being sent to Italy.
At the larger, peaceful demonstration, which police said numbered 10,000, people carried cardboard cutouts to represent trees felled to build the new bobsled run in Cortina. A group of dancers performed to beating drums. Music blasted from a truck leading the march, one a profanity-laced anti-ICE anthem.
“Let’s take back the cities and free the mountains,” read a banner by a group calling itself the Unsustainable Olympic Committee. Another group called the Association of Proletariat Excursionists organized the cutout trees.
“They bypassed the laws that usually are needed for major infrastructure project, citing urgency for the Games,” said protester Guido Maffioli, who expressed concern that the private entity organizing the Games would eventually pass on debt to Italian taxpayers.
Homemade signs read “Get out of the Games: Genocide States, Fascist Police and Polluting Sponsors,” the final one a reference to fossil fuel companies that are sponsors of the Games. One woman carried an artificial tree on her back decorated with the sign: “Infernal Olympics.”
The demonstration followed another last week when hundreds protested the deployment of ICE agents.
Like last week, demonstrators Saturday said they were opposed to ICE agents’ presence, despite official statements that a small number of agents from an investigative arm would be present in US diplomatic territory, and not operational on the streets.
