Strong typhoon lashes Philippines, killing 12
CEBU, PHILIPPINES: At least 12 people have died in the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, the disaster agency said on Friday, after the storm swept across the archipelago uprooting trees, toppling power poles and flooding villages.
More than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Typhoon Rai pummelled the southern and central regions of the country, knocking out communications in some areas and tearing roofs off buildings. Rai was a super typhoon when it slammed into Siargao Island on Thursday, packing maximum sustained winds of 195kmph. On Friday, wind speeds eased to 150kmph an hour, the state weather forecaster said.
“Siargao island is heavily damaged,” Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the national disaster agency told a briefing.
Jalad said 12 people have been reported killed during the storm, which lashed the popular tourist destination of Palawan island after ravaging the Visayas and the southern island of Mindanao.
“We are seeing people walking in the streets, many of them shell-shocked,” ABS-CBN correspondent Dennis Datu reported from the hard-hit city of Surigao, which is on the northern tip of Mindanao and near Siargao. “All buildings sustained heavy damage, including the provincial disaster office. It looks like it’s been hit by a bomb.” Datu said the main roads leading into the coastal city had been cut off by landslides, fallen trees and toppled power poles.
More than 300,000 people had sought emergency shelter as the typhoon charged across the Pacific Ocean and smashed into the country, the agency said. About 18,000 had yet to return home.
“The full picture is only just starting to emerge, but it is clear there is widespread devastation,” said Alberto Bocanegra, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Philippines.
Eight killed in Iraqi Kurdistan floods
Eight people in northern Iraq died on Friday in flash floods caused by torrential rains in Arbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, provincial governor Omid Khoshnaw said. In a country dealing with severe drought, many were caught by surprise and drowned as powerful storm waters began surging into their homes before dawn.
“The floods began at 4am, and have left eight dead including women and children,” he told AFP, reporting “significant” damage, especially in a workingclass district in the east of the city of Arbil.
Four members of the civil defence team who came to help residents were injured when their car was washed away, he added.