1 killed, 4 others hurt as ‘Lando’ slams PHL

Typhoon unleashes landslides, floods across wide area of north Luzon

STRONG winds brought about by typhoon Lando toppled trees, which killed a 14-year-old boy and injured four other persons in a Quezon City barangay yesterday.

The slow-moving typhoon wrecked houses, tore down trees and unleashed landslides and floods across a wide area of the northern Philippines yesterday, forcing thousands to flee.

JB Estalilla of the Office of Civil Defense-National Capital Region, said the fatality was still unidentified as of this posting.

Three of the four injured were iden- tified as Arnel Castillo, 38; Ronnie Castillo, 40; and Maria Esper Barbaran, 47. The fourth victim was described only as a three-year-old boy.

All four are now undergoing treatment at the East Avenue Medical Center.

At least eight people have been reported missing and rescue operations are underway in the rice-farming province of Nueva Ecija where rivers burst their banks and flooded several villages, regional authorities said.

“People are asking for help because the floodwaters are rising. The rescuers cannot penetrate the area as of now,” Nigel Lontoc, the assistant civil defense chief for the region, told AFP.

Television footage showed raging brown rivers swallowing up homes and carrying off large debris including tree trunks.

“Our number one priority is the safety of our people. No official report of casualties so far,” said National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Executive Director Alexander Pama, whose agency has overseen evacuation and predeployment of rescue contingents.

The government said more than 15,000 people had already been evacuated from Lando’s path.

Officials said more are expected to flee as the storm makes its way to the northern tip of Luzon, the Asian country’s largest island and home to about half its national population of 100 million people.

Lando made landfall before dawn on the remote fishing town of Casiguran, whipping the coast with gusts of up to 210 kilometers an hour for nearly seven hours before moving inland.

“Lando tore off roofs of homes made of light materials. Rivers overflowed, and the roads to the area are blocked by downed power pylons and trees,” Lontoc said.

After slamming into Casiguran in Aurora Province shortly after midnight, the typhoon weakened slightly and slowed considerably, hemmed in by the Sierra Madre mountain range and a high pressure area in the country’s north and another typhoon far out in the Pacific in the east, government forecaster Gladys Saludes said.

“It has slowed almost to a crawl. We’re hoping it would speed up and spare us sooner,” said Pama.