Nine dead in Philippines as storm nears Hong Kong

MANILA: At least nine people were killed and 11 others were missing after heavy rain across the Philippines flooded villages and triggered landslides, authorities said yesterday.

Severe Tropical Storm Kompasu drenched swathes of the most populous island of Luzon on Monday as it swept across the archipelago nation towards the South China Sea.

Four people were killed in landslides in the landlocked mountainous province of Benguet, and one person drowned in the coastal province of Cagayan, the national disaster agency said. Seven people were missing on Luzon island.

“Eleven municipalities were flooded but it subsided this morning,” Cagayan provincial information officer Rogelio Sending said.

Major highways and bridges were flooded, he said, but the water was retreating yesterday.

The storm intensified the southwest monsoon, sparking a flash flood in a village in the western island province of Palawan, leaving four people dead and the same number missing.

“Around seven to eight barangays [villages] are still flooded... due to clogged drainage or lack of drainage,” said Earl Timbancaya, a disaster officer in the city of Puerto Princesa on Palawan. “But it’s subsiding now.”

Meanwhile, Hong Kong issued a higher storm warning signal late yesterday afternoon as Kompasu approaches, prompting authorities to shut all schools.

The Hong Kong Observatory is considering raising the warning signal from No. 3 to No. 8, the third-highest level on its scale, between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. local time, according to a statement on its website.

Yantian Port in neighboring Shenzhen said it halted container pick-up and drop-off operations. Gaming hub Macau is also considering issuing the No. 8 warning between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, its weather office said in a statement.

At 12pm local time yesterday, Kompasu was estimated to be about 560 kilometres southeast of Hong Kong and was forecast to move west at about 25km per hour across the northern part of the South China Sea, according to the Observatory. Kompasu’s outer rainbands will bring showers and squalls to the financial hub as it gradually edges closer to the coast of Guangdong province.