By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MANILA (Worthy News) – A powerful tropical storm devastated the central Philippines Friday, leaving at least 10 people dead and more than 433,000 evacuated, but Christians told Worthy News they saw hope and miracles amid the misery.
Tropical Storm Bualoi, locally known as Opong, slammed into Eastern Samar province Thursday night with winds of 110 kilometers per hour (68 miles per hour), toppling trees and power lines, triggering floods, and damaging homes and infrastructure.
Officials confirmed fatalities in Masbate and Biliran provinces, while at least 13 fishermen remained missing.
Despite the devastation, believers shared testimonies of what they viewed as answered prayer. Gloria Tolentino, a Christian public servant and mother of four, said, “We are still having heavy rain but the wind is getting weak now… Thank God that he hear my plea.”I
Merry Joy Osman, a Christian aid worker with a micro-financing group in Cebu City, told Worthy News she had been stranded by the storm but was eventually able to return home safely.
WIDER IMPACT
Bualoi followed closely after Super Typhoon Ragasa, one of the strongest storms in years, which killed at least 28 people in the northern Philippines and Taiwan before hitting China and weakening over Vietnam.
The latest storm also comes as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. faces public outrage over alleged corruption in flood-control and infrastructure projects, which critics say left communities more vulnerable to extreme weather. Marcos has pledged that “nobody will be spared” from ongoing investigations.
For now, clearing operations continue in hard-hit areas as relief workers struggle to reach isolated communities.
Yet for the Philippines’ millions of Christians, the storm has become both a test of faith and a testimony of God’s presence in the midst of disaster.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Thursday that Hamas will be disarmed and the Gaza Strip fully demilitarized — declaring that if the international community fails to carry out that mission, Israel will act alone.
Returning from his Asia trip, President Donald Trump on Thursday night urged Republicans to “play their Trump card” and eliminate the Senate filibuster to end the monthlong government shutdown, escalating pressure on lawmakers to break the political deadlock in Washington.
In a rare bipartisan move, the U.S. Senate voted Thursday to end the emergency powers President Donald Trump has used to impose sweeping global tariffs — a move widely seen as a symbolic rebuke of the president’s trade strategy.
A sweeping new Barna report reveals a historic shift in American Christianity: for the first time in modern history, men are attending church more frequently than women. The change marks a dramatic reversal of decades-long patterns in which women consistently led in spiritual participation and church involvement.
Jerusalem was brought to a halt Thursday as hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews flooded the city’s western entrance in what organizers called the “Million Man March,” protesting the government’s proposed draft law. The massive rally–one of the largest in recent Israeli history–sparked chaos, violence, and tragedy, leaving a 15-year-old boy dead after falling from a construction site overlooking the demonstration.
A former underground Chinese house church pastor who now leads a U.S.-based advocacy group has urged U.S. President Donald J. Trump to raise the issue of reportedly persecuted Christians during his talks Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, following a fresh crackdown on independent churches in the Communist-led nation.
The fiercely anti-Islam but pro-Israel Party for Freedom (PVV) led by seasoned politician Geert Wilders was only slightly behind the left-leaning centrist Democrats 66 (D66) party with nearly all votes counted Thursday in the Dutch general election.