Flash floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Fengshen left at least 19 people dead in the Philippines, while an overflowing dam stranded tens of thousands on rooftops, officials said yesterday.
At least 30,000 people living in Iloilo in the central Philippines had scrambled onto rooftops fleeing the rushing water after the man-made dam overflowed, acting mayor Jed Mabilog said.
“I have received a lot of text messages appealing for helicopters, there are many people trapped on the rooftops,” Iloilo congressman Serg Biron told DZBB radio. “This is the worst flooding that has hit Iloilo in history.”
Fengshen, upgraded from a tropical storm on Friday, swept through the country’s center over the weekend, unleashing torrential rains, causing power outages and forcing the evacuations of hundreds of thousands of people.
Officials said earlier that flash floods and landslides triggered by the typhoon had left at least 19 people dead.
In the urban centers of Jaro and Iloilo, residents waded through waist-high waters that made roads impassable to vehicles.
The National Power Corporation shut down its power plant in the area, triggering a blackout across the province, plant manager Nelson Hemona said.
Roads connecting the southern cities of Cotabato and General Santos on Mindanao were flooded, while a concrete bridge also collapsed, isolating some villages and towns, Catholic-run radio station DXMS reported.
The storm forced more than 200,000 people to seek temporary shelter in the eastern Bicol region, the civil defense office said.
Heavy rains battered the Bicol region overnight and more than 600 people were stranded in various seaports there.
At 5pm, Fengshen was tracking northwest, packing winds of 195kph as it headed toward Mindoro Province.
It was forecast to dump heavy rain over large swathes of the central Visayas region and parts of the main island of Luzon through today, the weather bureau said.
The Central Weather Bureau said yesterday that whether Typhoon Fengshen would hit Taiwan would become clearer in the next couple of days.
The bureau said it would continue to monitor the movement of the typhoon before deciding whether to issue a typhoon alert.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique