Hundreds of people in the north of the main Philippine island of Luzon yesterday left evacuation centers and returned home after a typhoon weakened significantly as it made landfall, although officials still warned of heavy rain and rough seas.
Tropical Storm Maysak had weakened to a tropical depression and was carrying winds of 55kph and as it made landfall yesterday morning.
“We thank God,” National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council executive director Alexander Pama said. “From a super typhoon a week ago, we now have a tropical depression. We are spared once more from a disaster.”
Pama said no reports of casualties had been received as residents in coastal towns in the Luzon provinces of Isabela and Aurora emerged from shelters to return home.
However, he warned people in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes to remain vigilant because the storm could still bring heavy rains, flash floods and landslides.
Fishing boats and small ferries were still prohibited from returning to sea.
While there were still some travel restrictions, the weakening of the storm was generally good news as millions of Filipinos began returning to the capital from beaches and mountain resorts after the four-day Easter holiday.
Many of the Philippine TV and radio networks did not shut down as they traditionally do for the holiday in the largely Roman Catholic nation to report on Maysak.
Maysak, which carried winds of about 250kph at its peak, killed nine people as it barreled through the sparsely populated Federated States of Micronesia last week, smashing houses and destroying crops.
Additional reporting by AP
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