Typhoon Hits CDO, Hundreds Dead

CDO has been pummeled by one of the first typhoons to make it over the mountains in decades, and the results are catastrophic.

Due to it's peculiar location, as you can see in the image below, which is a map of the eye of every typhoon to cross the Philippines in the last half century, CDO and Mindanao are rarely visited by big storms. Therefore when one does come through (even a small tropical storm, as this one named "Sendong" / "Washi" was), nobody is prepared, and the results can be hideous.

Anyway, I assume my wife is okay because I spoke with her yesterday afternoon after the worst had passed. I don't know about her family out in Jasaan though. The last time a big storm came through, their house was endangered. But I'll assume everything is alright since Epril made no mention of it.

However for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people who lost their lives yesterday, and all of their family and friends, the small size of this storm, or the rare path that it took will be of little comfort. Keep those poor souls in your thoughts.

UPDATE: BBC is reporting now 652 confirmed dead and 808 additional still missing.