The Philippines is no stranger to storms, but this past week it’s taken an exceptional battering.
First came Typhoon Kalmaegi, killing at least 224 people. Then six days later, Super Typhoon Fung-wong.
The storm chasers who make it their life mission to track Mother Nature’s extremes were all in the province of Aurora in the northeast when it hit.
Flooding in Navotas, part of the capital Manila. Pic: AP
They captured video of huge waves hammering homes and hotels. There were winds of up to 185kph (115mph) and gusts of up to 230kph (143mph).
We were in Nueva Ecija province, in the Central Luzon region, to see the aftermath.
As we pulled up to one village, a cluster of people was gathered at a river that was once a road.
We were told one community had been completely cut off – 300 homes and 1,500 residents unable to get out, with conditions too dangerous for rescue teams to reach.
But many of those isolated locals told us, actually, they wanted to stay put – clinging on to their families and their belongings.
Conditions in some parts of this region are too dangerous for rescue teams to reach
Raging rivers
They’ve seen flooding here plenty of times. And yet even the experienced look a little shocked as one man suddenly swims into view, taking on the raging river in front of us, trying to traverse wild currents to reach the isolated community.
More than 1.4 million people were evacuated due to flash flooding and landslides across the country and were placed in emergency shelters or the homes of relatives.
