Some communities were cut off from electricity and communications more than 12 hours after the storm hit. In the days before the storm hit, residents reinforced weaker structures by repairing roofs and fittings, and farmers harvested crops early to avoid losing them. The storm struck in November 2013 in the central Philippines, hundreds of miles to the south of where Saturday’s storm landed. Those lessons were put to the test Saturday when Mangkhut struck. The northern Philippines is struck by an average of 20 tropical storms each year, though few as powerful as Mangkhut.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 15, 2018 04:42 UTC