Photo: Accuweather
Super Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, made landfall in the Philippines early Friday morning, local time, and is being called “one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever observed.” With sustained winds of 195 mph and gusts reaching 235 mph, the storm is equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane; “a significant loss of life” is expected, with President Benigno S. Aquino III warning of the “calamity our countrymen will face in these coming days.” The disaster comes just weeks after a 7.1-magntitude earthquake hit the country, killing more than 200 people and uprooting more than 350,000.
