Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

Philippine­s reels after typhoon as toll hits 375

- Associated Press

It was the strongest typhoon to batter the Philippine­s this year with sustained winds of 195kmph before it blew out on Friday

MANILA: The death toll from the strongest typhoon to batter the Philippine­s this year climbed to 375, with more than 50 others still missing and several central provinces struggling with downed communicat­ions and power outages and pleading for food and water, officials said on Monday.

At its strongest, Typhoon Rai packed sustained winds of 195kph gusts of up to 270 kph before blowing out into the South China Sea on Friday.

At least 375 people were killed, 56 were missing and 500 were injured, according to the national police. The toll may still increase because several towns and villages remained out of reach due to downed communicat­ions and power outages, although massive clean-up and repair efforts were underway.

Many were killed by falling trees and collapsing walls, flash floods and landslides.

Governor Arlene Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands, among the southeaste­rn provinces first hit by the typhoon, said Rai’s ferocity on her island province of more than 130,000 people was worse than that of Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful and deadliest typhoons on record which devastated the central Philippine­s in November 2013 but did not inflict any casualties in Dinagat.

At least 14 villagers died and more than 100 others were injured by flying roofs, debris and glass shards and were treated in makeshift surgery rooms in damaged hospitals in Dinagat, Bag-ao said.

Many more would have died if thousands of residents had not been evacuated from high-risk villages.

Dinagat and several other typhoon-hit provinces remained without electricit­y and communicat­ions and many residents needed constructi­on materials, food and water.

Bag-ao and other provincial officials travelled to nearby regions that had cellphone signals to seek aid and coordinate recovery efforts with the national government.

More than 700,000 people were lashed by the typhoon in central island provinces, including more than 400,000 who had to be moved to emergency shelters. Thousands of residents were rescued from flooded villages, including in Loboc town in hard-hit Bohol province, where residents were trapped on roofs and in trees where they went to escape the rising floodwater­s.

Emergency crews were working to restore electricit­y in 227 cities and towns, officials said. Power had been restored in only 21 areas so far.

Cellphone connection­s in more than 130 cities and towns were cut by the typhoon but at least 106 had been reconnecte­d by Monday, officials said.

Two local airports remained closed except for emergency flights, but most others have reopened, the civil aviation agency said.

Bag-ao and other officials were concerned that their provinces may run out of fuel, which was in high demand because of the use of temporary power generators, including those used for refrigerat­ed warehouses with large amounts of coronaviru­s vaccine stocks.

Officials delivered vaccine shipments to many provinces for an intensifie­d immunisati­on campaign, which was postponed last week due to the typhoon.

 ?? AFP ?? Residents with their water plastic containers queue up to fetch water along a road in Tagbilaran City, Bohol province on Mondays, days after super Typhoon Rai hit the province.
AFP Residents with their water plastic containers queue up to fetch water along a road in Tagbilaran City, Bohol province on Mondays, days after super Typhoon Rai hit the province.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India