Typhoon Haima produces floods leaving seven dead

Greater casualties avoided after 100,000 flee to safer ground

Super Typhoon Haima has weakenedandblownout to sea after smashing into the northern Philippines with ferocious wind and rain.

Flooding, landslides and power outages were evident but large casualties appeared to have been averted after nearly 100,000 people fled to safer ground.

Ha i m a ’ s blinding winds and rain had rekindled fears of the catastrophe wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, but there were no immediate reports

“Trees were forced down, houses lost their roofs and metal sheets flew”

of any major damage.

Several villages are cut off by fallen trees, landslides and floods, impeding communications and aid.

Although storms are a part of life in the country’s north, many villagers were still horrified by Haima’s fury.

“At my age, I’m 60 years old, this is the strongest typhoonIhave ever seen,” village councillor Willie Cabalteja said in Vigan city in Ilocos Sur province.

“We haven’t slept. Trees were forced down, houses lost their roofs and fences and metal sheets were flying around all night.”

At least seven people were killed in the storm, officials said.

But the evacuations from high- risk communities helped prevent a larger number of casualties.

Two construction workers died when a landslide buried their shanty in La Trinidad town in the mountain province of Benguet, officials said, while two villagers died in another landslide and another was swept away in a river and remains missing in Ifugao province, near Benguet.

A 70-year-old man died apparently of a heart attack in an emergency shelter while another man died after being pinned by a fallen tree in Isabela province.

One other typhoon-related death was reported in northern Ilocos region but details were not immediatelyavailable. Haima, with s u s t a i n e d winds of 140mph, hit north-eastern Cagayan province late on Wednesday then barrelled north- westward before blowing out into the South China Sea with sustained winds of (93mph and gusts of up to 115mph, according to forecasters.

Althoughweakening, the typhoon was expected to blow towards China, Filipino forecasters said.

SAFE: A farmer uses a bamboo raft to bring a goat to safety