Winds and floods batter Philippines

TWO people were killed and thousands fled strong winds and floods as a tropical depression hit the central Philippines yesterday, following deadly back-to-back storms during the Christmas season.

The deaths were reported on Cebu island, where an elderly woman was killed in a landslide, while a man died after he hit his head on the pavement as the storm cut off electricity in the area.

Tropical Storm Kai-Tak killed 47 people in the central Philippines last month, while Tropical Storm Tembin killed 240 on the southern island of Mindanao.

The state weather service warned the new disturbance was poised to hit the western tourist island of Palawan, with gusts of 65km/h, later yesterday.

“The residents are really sad. It is tough that we have three storms coming one after another. People have lost their livelihood and have had no rest since Christmas,” Gil Acosta, information officer of the island, told reporters.

Palawan accounted for 37 of the recorded Tembin deaths, with 60 other people still missing, Acosta added.

About 4 000 people across the central Philippines had moved to safer ground to escape high winds and flooding, the national disaster agency in Manila said.

“There is continuous flooding in some towns, where the floodwater from the previous storm has yet to subside,” provincial disaster information officer Julius Regner told AFP by telephone from Cebu City.

The Philippines is battered by 20 major storms each year on average, many of them deadly. — AFP