Typhoon Kammuri kills three, leaves a trail of destruction
POWER POLES TOPPLED, HOMES BATTERED AS WIND SPEED REACHES 140KM/HR
The Philippines reopened its main airport late yesterday as Typhoon Kammuri headed to the South China Sea, leaving at least three people dead and displacing half a million more.
Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s runways were opened at 6pm (local time) to allow airlines to bring back their aircraft to Manila, general manager Ed Monreal said in a statement. Regular flight operations resumed at 11pm (local time).
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte cancelled government work in Metro Manila, while schools were closed as Kammuri battered most of Luzon island yesterday.
Typhoon Kammuri killed at least three people yesterday as it tore roofs of houses and forced the international airport in Manila to shut down earlier in the day.
The storm roared ashore late on Monday and passed south of Manila — home to 13 million people — and thousands of athletes at the regional Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
As the typhoon was exiting the Philippines it hit one last major landmass, the central island of Mindoro, where one man was crushed by a falling tree and another killed by a flying piece of lumber, police said.
Ahead of the storm’s arrival a 33-year-old man was electrocuted on Monday while securing a roof against the winds, which by late yesterday reached a maximum of 140 kilometres per hour.
Authorities were still assessing the storm’s impact, but a small local airport was seriously damaged, many power poles toppled and homes were battered. Due to the high winds, Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport was “closed for operations”, general manager
Ed Monreal said. It was not clear when flights would resume, but authorities gave an estimate of 11:00 pm (1500 GMT) yesterday and said their decision would depend on the weather. Nearly 500 flights were cancelled, and officials warned passengers not to come to the airport.
About 340,000 people had been evacuated from their homes in the central Bicol region, disaster officials said.
Kammuri had already snarled some plans for the SEA Games, which opened last Saturday and are set to run through December 11 in and around Manila. Organisers rescheduled about half of the events set for yesterday.