One of the most powerful storms on record devastated the central Philippines, reportedly killing an estimated 1,000 people in one town alone and leaving the airport in the hard-hit city of Tacloban in shambles.
The Philippine Red Cross told Reuters that based on reports it estimates at least 1,000 dead in Tacloban, which is located about 360 miles southeast of Manila, and 200 in Samar Provice.
“An estimated more than 1,000 bodies were seen floating in Tacloban as reported by our Red Cross teams,” Gwendolyn Pang, the secretary general from the agency told Reuters. “In Samar, about 200 deaths. Validation is ongoing.”
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.
