Power outage heralds 'Queenie' landfall in Aurora

Flying roofs, thunderstorms and power and communication outages heralded the arrival of super typhoon "Queenie" (international code name Chebi) in Luzon Saturday morning. The super typhoon made itself felt at 3 a.m. in Aurora, tearing off roofs of houses in Dilasag town, which is still reeling from the effect of super-typhoon "Paeng" last week. "Malakas ang hangin at mataas ang tubig sa town proper. Mga 3 am pa lang, gising na ang mga tao (The wind was so fierce and the floodwater high in the town proper. People have been awake since 3 am)," Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Community Environment and Natural Resources officer James Martinez said in an interview on dzRH radio. Citing initial information as of 6 am, when "Queenie" was forecast to make landfall in nearby Casiguran town, Martinez said winds were powerful enough to fell coconut trees. He said local authorities had been trying to convince residents in low-lying areas since Friday afternoon to evacuate their houses and get to higher ground. "Ang mga ilog natin napakadaling lumakas pag ganyan kalakas ang ulan (We told them the rivers quickly overflow amid heavy rain like this)," he said. In other areas of Aurora, radio station dzRH reported that cell phone services of Smart Communications were knocked down. Power was also cut off in several areas of Casiguran town. "Buti nasa loob ang mga tao. May baha pero di pa grabe tulad ng sa ‘Paeng’ (It is a good thing the storm hit when residents were inside their homes. There is flooding but so far it’s not as high as the floods brought by ‘Paeng’)," Casiguran town mayor Reynaldo Bitong said on dzRH radio. In Cagayan Valley, local authorities told residents in areas near the Cagayan River to prepare for evacuation as early as Friday afternoon. "As early as Friday afternoon we started the evacuation of residents in low-lying areas for fear of storm surge," Elvira Calina, Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) director for Tuguegarao, said in an interview on dzBB radio. Several residents in the region were killed when super-typhoon "Paeng" lashed the area a week earlier. Energy officials in Quirino province in Cagayan Valley said residents may remain without power longer as "Queenie" would likely damage again the power facilities they are fixing. In Metro Manila, the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) ordered all its personnel to remain on standby 24 hours a day, while the danger of "Queenie" remains. "Our personnel are on 24-hour standby. The alert has been activated," OCD executive director Anthony Golez Jr. said on dzRH. - GMANews.TV