Irish Independent

Dozens dead as typhoon leaves trail of devastatio­n

- Nicola Smith

AT LEAST 59 people were killed after Typhoon Mangkhut, the world’s strongest storm of the year, slammed into the northern Philippine­s on Saturday before wreaking havoc in Hong Kong throughout yesterday.

Although the storm had weakened overnight, authoritie­s in Hong Kong issued their maximum alert.

As winds of up to 230kmh whipped between skyscraper­s in the city’s streets, buildings swayed, trees were felled, roads flooded and windows smashed.

In nearby Guangdong province, in southern China, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated as it approached yesterday evening.

As officials took stock of the damage on the Philippine­s’ northern island of Luzon, aid workers rushed to rescue the victims of landslides, including one that overwhelme­d a church where people were taking shelter and another that engulfed a miners’ bunkhouse thought to have 40 to 50 people inside.

“I can’t begin to accept this, but it looks like the casualties here are going to go up to at least 100,” said Victorio Palangdan, the mayor of Itogon, Benguet, in Luzon’s cen- tral highlands, according to ‘The New York Times’.

A baby and a toddler were among the dead in several smaller landslides in mountainou­s areas.

Francis Tolentino, a senior adviser to President Rodrigo Duterte, estimated 5.7 million people had been affected by the storm, and that delivering aid supplies would be a major challenge.

In the town of Baggao, Mangkhut demolished houses, tore off roofs and downed power lines. Some roads were cut off by landslides and many remained submerged. Farms across northern Luzon, which produces much of the nation’s rice and corn, were sitting under muddy floodwater, crops ruined a month before harvest.

“We’re already poor and then this happened to us. We have lost hope,” said 40-year-old Mary Anne Baril, whose corn and rice crops were spoilt.

Almost a quarter of the five million people in the direct path of the storm survive on a few dollars a day.

An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippine­s each year, killing hundreds of people.

The country’s deadliest storm on record is Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing across the central Philippine­s in November 2013.

In Hong Kong, the city shut down and social media posts of the storm’s impact went viral, showing roofs being torn off, people being blown off their feet and a crane toppling over at a constructi­on site. Almost 900 flights were cancelled and many residents taped up their windows and huddled indoors.

Waters surged in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour and coastal villages, from which hundreds of residents were evacuated to storm shelters.

In the fishing village of Tai O, where many residents live in stilt houses over the sea, some

‘We’re already poor and then this happened to us. We have lost hope’

tried bailing out their homes. “Floodwater is rushing into my home but I’m continuous­ly shovelling the water out,” Tai O resident Lau King-cheung said.

As the storm moved south past Macau, its streets became submerged and urgent preparatio­ns were made towards China’s southern coast.

More than 2.4 million people had been evacuated in southern China’s Guangdong province by yesterday evening and nearly 50,000 fishing boats were called back to port. It threatened to be the strongest typhoon to hit Hong Kong in nearly two decades.

“Prepare for the worst,” Hong Kong Security Minister John Lee Ka-chiu urged residents.

The storm shattered glass windows on commercial skyscraper­s in Hong Kong, sending sheets of paper pouring out of the buildings, fluttering and spiralling as they headed for the debris-strewn ground.

Mangkhut also felled trees, tore bamboo scaffoldin­g off buildings under constructi­on and flooded areas of Hong Kong with waist-high waters.

The paper said the heavy rains brought storm surges of three metres around Hong Kong. (© Daily Telegraph, London)

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 ??  ?? Downpour: A woman runs in a rainstorm as Typhoon Mangkhut approaches Shenzhen in China. Left: Rescuers help a mother and her child after landslides in Itogon township in Benguet province in the northern Philippine­s
Downpour: A woman runs in a rainstorm as Typhoon Mangkhut approaches Shenzhen in China. Left: Rescuers help a mother and her child after landslides in Itogon township in Benguet province in the northern Philippine­s

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