17 dead as typhoon Kammuri wreaks havoc across provinces in Philippines
Seventeen people died and 18 others were injured when typhoon Kammuri ripped through the Philippines on Wednesday, severing communications and power supplies and forcing the closure of Manila’s main airport. The typhoon, the strongest to hit the country this year, first made landfall at 11 p.m. on Monday in Gubat, a municipality in the Sorsogon province of the Bicol region.
On Tuesday, it tore into San Pascual, on Burias Island, Masbate at 4 a.m., then swept through Torrijos, Marinduque at 8:30 a.m., before slamming into Naujan, in Oriental Mindoro at 12:30 p.m.
Kammuri left a trail of death and destruction in provinces south of the capital, Manila. Bicol regional police said five people had died in the provinces of Camarines Sur and Sorsogon, while seven deaths were reported by officers in Oriental Mindoro and Marinduque. Authorities said a further four people were killed by the typhoon in Batangas and Quezon provinces, and in Eastern Visayas the Office of Civil Defense confirmed one fatality.
Most of those who died were hit by falling trees or debris at the height of the storm, while others were drowned, or suffered from heart attacks and seizures.
The country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), in Camp Aguinaldo, said almost 500,000 people had been affected by the storm, with many of them taking shelter in evacuation centers. As early as Sunday, authorities had ordered a pre-emptive evacuation of residents from parts of the Philippines expected to be in the path of typhoon Kammuri, especially those living in coastal regions and areas prone to landslides.
Flooding caused damage to almost 6,800 homes in several provinces and some were completely destroyed, while power and communication lines in affected areas were being restored.
The cost of damage to crops and livestock had initially been estimated at more than 800 million Philippine pesos ($15.7 million).
On Tuesday, 329 domestic and 192 international flights at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, in Manila, were canceled but operations were back to normal on Wednesday.
The weather also disrupted some events at the Southeast Asian Games being hosted by the Philippines until Dec. 11. However, the state weather bureau predicted the typhoon to have cleared the Philippines by Thursday morning at the latest.
NUMBER
Flee storm as Manila airport closed, homes wrecked, and communication and power lines cut.