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A powerful typhoon that ripped through the Philippines on Friday killed at least four people, officials said, but appeared not to live up to fears that it would be a particularly deadly storm.
By some accounts the typhoon, named Haiyan, ranks among the world’s strongest. But because it moved across the country so rapidly, it may not have killed as many people as feared. Experts say that is because it did not linger long enough to deluge the islands with rain that can cause the widespread flooding and mudslides that often lead to high death tolls.
The storm, called Yolanda in the Philippines, moved across the country around 25 miles per hour, roughly twice as fast as Typhoon Bopha last year, which killed more than a thousand people, experts said.
“Fortunately, this moved like a Porsche,” said Michael Padua, a senior typhoon specialist at a private forecasting group, Weather Philippines.
While the initial death toll was low, contact had not yet been made with two of the hardest hit islands because of phone troubles, so the death toll could rise significantly. Damage is expected to be extensive, in part because many structures in poorer regions are not well-built.
The typhoon slammed into the island of Samar, on the eastern edge of the Philippines, early Friday morning and sped across the islands in the center of the country. Photos showed crumpled wooden buildings, high waves slamming into the shore and, in some cases, people emerging from their houses to find coconuts strewn all over the streets.
There were grave concerns before the storm hit because the estimated wind speeds over the ocean indicated that it could have a devastating impact on land.
The alarm may have been advantageous. More than 700,000 people evacuated their homes, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Many were housed in evacuation centers, which could limit the death toll.
“People were prepared for this one,” said Rene Paciente, a forecaster with the Philippine government’s national weather agency. “They were given notice and they were evacuated.”
In a nationally televised address, President Benigno S. Aquino III had told Filipinos to prepare for the worst. “Let us evacuate our homes if we are in danger zones,” he said. “For those in coastal areas, don’t venture out to sea. Let’s not risk our lives and those of rescue teams.”
Local radio and television stations reported downed power lines, impassible roads and flooding in some areas caused by surging ocean water. The city of Tacloban, on the island of Leyte, was inundated.
Before the typhoon made landfall, some international forecasters were estimating wind speeds at 195 m.p.h., which would have meant the storm would hit with winds among the strongest recorded. But local forecasters later disputed those estimates. “Some of the reports of wind speeds were exaggerated,” Mr. Paciente said.
According to Mr. Paciente, the Philippine weather agency measured wind speeds on the eastern edge of the country at about 150 m.p.h., with some tracking stations recording speeds as low as 100 m.p.h.
The United States Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center used satellite analysis to estimate sustained wind speeds at about 195 m.p.h., with gusts up to 235 m.p.h., but that measured just the center of the storm when it was over the ocean.
“As far as satellite imagery was concerned, it indicated that this was one of the strongest storms on record,” said Roger Edson, the science and operations officer at the United States National Weather Service in Guam.
He said 195 m.p.h. winds would put the storm “off the charts,” but he acknowledged that satellite estimates require further study on the ground to determine if they were accurate.
By Saturday, the storm had left the Philippines. It was on a path to continue on to Vietnam in the next few days, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Honolulu.
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