Typhoon kills 10 in Philippines, shuts Manila, cuts power, prompts evacuations

(Reuters) - A typhoon killed at least 10 people as it churned across the Philippines and shut down the capital, cutting power and prompting the evacuation of almost more than 370,000 people, rescue officials said on Wednesday.

The eye of Typhoon Rammasun, the strongest storm to hit the country this year, passed to the south of Manila on Wednesday after cutting a path across the main island of Luzon, toppling trees and power lines and causing electrocutions and widespread blackouts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/16/us-philippines-typhoon-idUSKBN0FL07520140716

Yeah, the Mrs who lives in Paranaque near Manila said it nearly blew their roof off.

Her sister and brother in law were due to fly into Manila yesterday from Dubai but the flight was cancelled because of the typhoon, in addition to this there is a brown out so the loved one cant get onto the internet to book a flight to the UK

Yes lots of cancelled flights, schools closed and boats suspended. At the time my wife was coming over I booked the flight on her behalf. Some airlines won't accept card transactions from PI

I will bear that in mind if she has a problem booking her flight to the UK, thanks

Sure Tim. I can't off the top of my head recall which airlines wouldn't do it but it was a few major carriers. If you do find you have issues I can tell you that Emirates allow you to book on behalf of others but you may well have to go the the Emirates desk at MAN airport and present the card that you made the transaction with (assuming you book online).

Looks like my wifes Uncles chicken farm has been flattened.

Flat pack chickens?

Probably.

Hope he didn't keep all his eggs in one basket

Sorry John, just couldn't resist

Dunno. There was a lot of chickens though. Not his. He manages the farm which is a huge concern and a big chicken supplier in the region. I dont know if they dealt in eggs there. Mainly chicken (meat). Several huge sheds all flattened.

Free range chickens now...

I was in the poultry business for years (incubators), I am sure they will just dust themselves down and buy some more stock, a few chicken sheds will not take much time to erect.

Hope all goes well for him.

Very free, like the chicken truck that overturned on the M62 the other week, free range chickens everywhere apparently

Just talking to the wife about it. The sheds were huge. Like I say, on an commercial scale. But they will have not had a lot of resilience to the wind as they were wooden and would have caught the wind like a sail.

They could easily start again. But whether it would be economically viable is another matter. Said employer has his eggs spread across a lot of big baskets. So it wont be a great loss to them, I am sure. My wife's uncle and his family might be affected by any change in business plan. Having said that, no doubt they will be given work in another sector. Seems to work like that.

Well, just got news through that my wifes relatives are okay. Some are without power, just a few thousand chickens got flattened.

I hope the crocodile farm is still intact.

Another Typhoon will hit the country this weekend ...

She managed to book a Singapore Airlines flight through a travel agency in Paranaque, there have been a lot of problems booking online due to the power outages and so on. The Mrs has got a flight via Singapore to Manchester on the 3rd August so I'm looking forward to that somewhat . Only thing I don't like, she only has an hour to change planes in Singapore, I've never liked to be rushed like this as you always feel that you might miss your connecting flight, having said that, it is Singapore Airlines all the way and I know from experience that they will hold connecting flights for their own passengers.

As long as it is booked on one ticket she should be OK.
If she does everything correctly she should be transferred to another flight if she misses the connection due to late arrival.

Yes they would transfer her if she missed the connection, Singapore Airlines is probably in my top three airlines, for surf class that is.

What is the expected path? This one?