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Muddy street in Batangas: cleaning up after Typhoon "Goni"
Photo: Ezra Acayan / Getty Images
Typhoon "Goni" has passed over the Philippines and wreaked havoc.
At least 16 people died as a result of the storm, the national disaster agency announced.
The so far strongest tropical storm of the year drove more than 420,000 people from their homes.
Most of them are still in evacuation centers while authorities strive to restore power and telecommunications services to the hardest hit areas, it said.
The hurricane, known as the super typhoon, hit land on Sunday with winds of up to 225 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 310 kilometers per hour in the province of Catanduanes in the east of the island state.
Later it also swept across Albay Province.
Violent winds and torrential rains toppled electricity pylons, caused floods and caused landslides.
According to the provincial governor Al Francis Bichara, several people are missing and around a hundred houses have been buried in masses of mud.
The landslides were deposits on the Mayon volcano that were loosened by the heavy rains.
Next storm sets course for the Philippines
According to the authorities, 90 percent of the infrastructure in Catanduanes has been damaged.
"We are appalled at the devastation this typhoon has caused in many areas," said the Chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, Richard Gordon.
This is now an additional burden to the problems already caused by the corona pandemic.
President Rodrigo Duterte took a flight over the affected area on Monday to get an idea of the situation.
"Goni" is scheduled to leave the Philippines on Tuesday.
It is the 18th tropical storm that has hit the Southeast Asian country this year - and the strongest to date.
Just last week, 23 people died in typhoon "Molave" and almost 800,000 people had to leave their homes.
And the next storm was already on the march, warned meteorologists: Typhoon "Atsani" was approaching the north of the country with gusts of wind of up to 80 kilometers per hour.
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wit / dpa / AFP
