One of the most powerful storms on record devastated the central Philippines, killing more than 100 people, leveling homes and leaving the airport in the hard-hit city of Tacloban in shambles, officials said Saturday.
With communications and roads still cut off, Capt. John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, said he had received "reliable information" by radio from his staff that more than 100 bodies were lying in the streets of Tacloban on Leyte Island. It was one of five islands where Typhoon Haiyan slammed Friday.
The Philippine Red Cross told Reuters that it received reports indicating at least 1,000 dead in Tacloban, about 360 miles southeast of Manila, and 200 in Samar Provice. Bodies covered in plastic were lying on the streets.
With communications and roads still cut off, Capt. John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, said he had received "reliable information" by radio from his staff that more than 100 bodies were lying in the streets of Tacloban on Leyte Island. It was one of five islands where Typhoon Haiyan slammed Friday.
The Philippine Red Cross told Reuters that it received reports indicating at least 1,000 dead in Tacloban, about 360 miles southeast of Manila, and 200 in Samar Provice. Bodies covered in plastic were lying on the streets.
"The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami," said Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, head of the U.N. Disaster Assessment Coordination Team sent to Tacloban.
"This is destruction on a massive scale. There are cars thrown like tumbleweed and the streets are strewn with debris."The category 5 "super typhoon" weakened to a category 4 on Saturday, though forecasters said it could strengthen again over the South China Sea en route to Vietnam.
Authorities in 15 provinces in Vietnam have started to call back boats and prepare for possible landslides. Nearly 300,000 people were moved to safer areas in two provinces alone - Da Nang and Quang Nam - according to the government's website.
The Philippines has yet to restore communications with officials in Tacloban, a city of about 220,000, but a government official estimated at least 100 were killed and more than 100 wounded.