3 killed as storm pounds Philippines

TACLOBAN: At least three people were killed and tens of thousands were driven from their homes by floods as Tropical Storm Kai-Tak pounded the country’s east yesterday, cutting off power and triggering landslides, officials said.

Kai-Tak, packing gusts of up to 110kph, hit the country’s third largest island Samar in the afternoon and tore through a region devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan four years ago, the state weather service said.

Local officials reported three deaths on neighbouring Leyte island — a 2-year-old boy who drowned in Mahaplag town, a woman buried by a landslide and another person who fell into a flooded manhole in Ormoc city.

Samar and Leyte, with a combined population of 4.5 million, had borne the brunt of Haiyan in 2013, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing.

Bus driver Felix Villaseran, his wife and four children hunkered down in their house in the Leyte city of Tacloban along with 11 relatives, whose homes were flooded from incessant rain.

“We have yet to shake off our phobia. I hope to God we don’t have a repeat of that,” said Villaseran, who lost 39 cousins in the Haiyan onslaught.

“My missus stockpiled on groceries before the storm hit, but since we also have to feed these three other families, we’re now running low on food,” he added.

Military trucks drove through rising floodwaters to rescue trapped residents, with more than 77,000 people in evacuation centres, local officials said. AFP