A seawall collapsed after super typhoon Rai slammed into the Philippines on Thursday December 16.
Video taken in Barangay Dulag early Friday morning December 17 shows large waves crashing onto the destroyed barricade as the sun rose over the storm-battered coastal province of Leyte. The tides almost swept away an onlooker inspecting the seawall.
Resident Maay Yam said: ‘Look at the seawall, it’s been completely wrecked. Our store was damaged too.’
State weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said that ‘heavy to torrential’ rains were expected over the south-central parts of the Philippines until Friday.
Typhoon Rai made its first landfall in Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte province 1:30 pm local time, weakening from a Category 5 hurricane or super typhoon to a Category 3 storm.
More than 300,000 residents in flood and landslide-prone rural areas have been preemptively evacuated by local government units while bracing for the powerful typhoon. Disaster officials confirmed that one person had died so far – a 54-year-old woman whose residence was smashed by bamboo trees in Iloilo City.
PAGASA said Typhoon Rai may make another landfall in the northern-central portion of the Palawan islands today before exiting the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Saturday.