Super Typhoon Rai leaves a path of devastation and uncertainty

The death toll from Super Typhoon Rai that raked southern and central Philippines late last week has risen to 375 with 500 people missing, according to data compiled by the National Police.

The count, subject to verification, far outstrips the 156 deaths recorded by the national disaster agency from the storm known locally as Odette.

Rai is one of the most powerful storms to hit the southern Philippines on record. Within 24 hours the typhoon intensified into the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, with sustained winds of some 100 miles per hour in a band 600 miles across. By the time it exited the Philippines Saturday, the storm had displaced more than 481,000 people, according to the Philippines Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.

Among is Niel Jon Salcedo, a young dentist in Cagayan de Oro on Mindanao. He took a moment to savor a family treasure as flood waters lapped in his home.

In a video on Facebook, he stood in knee-high water as he began to play the piano that his parents had given him when he was five.

In a Facebook message, Salcedo told NPR that he had transferred his personal effects to the second floor, but could not salvage the heavy piano. So Salcedo said, "I decided to play ... this might be the last time I can."

Widespread flooding and gale-force winds affected hundreds of thousands of people already battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Bingo Matugas of Siargao, where Rai first made landfall, told CNN Philippines that the island is "totally devastated."

A video circulating on social media showed the storm's ferocious winds peeling the roof off of the newly inaugurated Siargao Sports Complex, while a crowd of evacuees screamed in panic.

Local media report that residents have painted "SOS" on a road in the island's tourist town of General Luna, as people struggled to find water and food. Before Rai struck, Siargao was fast becoming a go-to tourist destination in the Philippines and surfers and holidaymakers had flocked to the island ahead of Christmas.

The diving Mecca of Bohol is one of the hardest-hit islands. Gov. Arthur Yap said on Facebook that at least 94 people have died.

In the Bohol coastal town of Ubay, houses have been flattened, fishing boats destroyed, and a state of calamity declared.

Seventy-two hours after the storm, the full effects are just now becoming clear. "Red Cross emergency teams are reporting complete carnage in the coastal areas. Homes, hospitals, school and community buildings have been ripped to shreds," said Philippine Red Cross Chairman Sen. Richard Gordon. He said Red Cross volunteers are providing "urgent relief for people who have lost everything, including ... somewhere safe to shelter."

The recovery effort has been slow. Over 200 municipalities remain without power, and many Filipinos are homeless. The Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development reported over 53,00 houses have been destroyed and another 83,000 partially damaged.

The country's disaster agency said $3.2 million USD in crops, livestock, and machinery have been lost.

Touring the devastation this weekend, President Rodrigo Duterte acknowledged that the storm's intensity had caught government agencies off guard. "No one expected it to be this strong," he said, and asked for the public's patience. The pandemic, he said, had depleted the budget, but that new funds will be available at the start of the year. Duterte pledged immediate aid of 2 billion pesos, about $40 million, to hard-hit areas, but conceded it would not cover the total cost of havoc the storm has wreaked on people's lives and livelihoods.

Scientists have warned that typhoons are becoming more powerful and strengthening more rapidly as the world's climate warms. The Philippines ranks among the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change and is hit by an average of 20 storms, some ruinous, every year.

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