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Typhoon Fengshen forces evacuations, kills 19 Filipinos

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
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