This is the moment a music lover played his beloved piano for the last time before being evacuated as super typhoon Rai smashed into the Philippines and flooded his home.
Niel Jon Salcedo played ‘River Flows in You’ by South Korean pianist Yiruma on the 20-year-old upright. He played the dramatic piece amid a knee-deep deluge in his home in Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental province during strong wind and rain on December 16.
The pianist, who is now safe in a shelter, said: ‘This was probably my last time playing this piano before it gets junked because of the flood. The rain added a dramatic effect in the background.’
More than 300,000 residents have been evacuated and at least one person has been killed by the super typhoon, which is making its way across the South China Sea towards Vietnam.
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.
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.
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 home was smashed by uprooted bamboo trees in Iloilo City.
PAGASA said Typhoon Rai may make another landfall in the northern-central portion of the Palawan islands before exiting the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Saturday.