Typhoon Rai (local name “Odette”) wreaked havoc on millions of Filipinos as “one of the world’s strongest storms” of 2021 made landfall in the central and southern part of the Philippines, Thursday, December 16, 2021.

According to PAGASA, the Philippines’ weather forecast bureau, Odette initially made its first landfall in Surigao del Norte’s Siargao Island at 01:30 p.m., then Cagdianao, Dinagat Islands, at 3:10 p.m.

Days before the typhoon hit the Philippines, the local weather bureau warned the citizens to evacuate as Typhoon Rai showed significant attributes compared to Typhoon Sendong, which wiped out major cities in the southern Philippines in 2011. Weather forecast reported that Typhoon Rai developed swiftly between hours and was earlier expected to supersede the tragic experience of Typhoon Sendong. According to PAGASA, a few hours before Odette made landfall, it increased its sustained winds and rainfall.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that 98,000 people from 26,420 families have been evacuated over both regions in preparation for the storm.

Typhoon Odette is now on its way to the southwestern part of the Philippines, passing over the Panay Gulf and heading towards Palawan. With wind speed increasing to 195 kilometers per hour (121 miles per hour) near the eye and gustiness up to 240 km/h (149 mph), Typhoon Odette is expected to leave destruction in its path. 

Local government units are yet to estimate the total damage to national property as most areas affected by the typhoon are flooding, and there are no electric and communication facilities or passable major roads due to landslides and road blockages. 

There are close to 16 million people living in the provinces that are to be affected by Typhoon Rai, 3.8 million of which live below the poverty line. 

ADRA Philippines has activated its Emergency Response Team and is currently partnering with all the Adventist Community Services coordinators of the missions and conferences that will be affected by Typhoon Odette. 

Several reports are coming in from the field, describing how vast the damage inflicted by the typhoon in widely affected areas is. However, due to some communication challenges, information is yet to be finalized.

Communication with ADRA teams designated in Mindanao and Visayas are currently non-existent. NGOs and national government agencies face the same setback trying to get data from the affected areas. ADRA Philippines deployed a team to go and conduct a rapid assessment of the damage in northeastern Mindanao, and we are praying for their safety.

This article was originally published on the Southern Asia-Pacific Division’s news site