At least 26 people were killed in landslides and other accidents caused by a powerful typhoon that pummelled the northern Philippines, officials said yesterday.
Twelve people were killed in Pangasinan province, 180km north of Manila, where typhoon Chan-Hom flattened thousands of houses, Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.
Ten people were killed in landslides in Ifugao province, while four fatalities were reported in the provinces of Zambales, Bataas and Batangas, the National Disaster Co-ordinating Council (NDCC) said.
Among the dead in Pangasinan were an 84-year-old woman who suffered a head trauma after being swept away by strong winds and a 23-year-old man struck by a flying iron sheet.
“Pangasinan is one of the worst hit provinces,” Teodoro said. “At least two towns were isolated because huge trees were toppled by the typhoon and blocked the roads.” “The death toll and damage count could still rise,” he added, noting that disaster relief officials were just beginning to penetrate the isolated areas.
Typhoon Chan-Hom slammed into the northern province of Pangasinan late Thursday with maximum winds of 150kph and gusts of up to 185kph.
The weather bureau said Chan-Hom has continued to weaken as it moved north-east at 15kph away from the country. Its maximum winds dropped to 65kph and gusts of up to 80kph.
It was expected to be out of the country by tomorrow. The bureau has lowered all storm signals in the 30 affected provinces.
Chan-Hom toppled electrical posts, uprooted trees and busted electrical transformers in the affected provinces, cutting off electricity to a wide area. Eleven landslides were also reported, while thousands of passengers were stranded in various ports as the coast guard prohibited sea travel amid stormy seas.
Chan-Hom struck the Philippines a few days after typhoon Kujira battered eastern provinces, killing 27 people and damaging more than 9mn dollars worth of crops, livestock and fisheries. DPA
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