Sun, Nov 01, 2009 page1

• Typhoon smashes weary Manila

  ON TARGET This is the third major storm in five weeks to hit the Philippines main island, where many areas are expected to remain flooded until sometime next year

  • AFP
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  Typhoon Mirinae smashed through the Philippines overnight, killing 11 people and worsening floods in areas that were struggling to recover from recent deadly storms, officials said yesterday.

  The typhoon, packing winds of up to 185km an hour, was the third major storm to hit the Philippines’ main island of Luzon in just five weeks, with the previous two claiming more than 1,100 lives.

  In Manila, areas that have been flooded since Tropical Storm Ketsana struck in late September were hit with more heavy rain, while residents in other districts were forced onto their roofs to escape rising waters.

  

  A Filipino and his children wade in floodwaters in Santa Cruz, Laguna province, south of Manila, the Philippines, yesterday.

  PHOTO: EPA

  “We need help because the waters have risen. We need rubber boats and choppers,” Ariel Magcales, the mayor of Santa Cruz town on Manila’s outskirts, said in a radio interview. “Some people are on the roofs of their houses.”

  Military and police rescue boats worked to save people who were trapped by a flash flood, officials said.

  One man was found dead and his one-year-old baby was missing after they were washed away while trying to cross an overflowing creek in a rural area on the outskirts of Manila, the military said.

  Three people were reported dead and five others were missing in Laguna province just south of Manila, the local disaster monitoring office said.

  Seven people died in the Bicol region, south of Manila, mostly from flash floods, local disaster monitoring officials said.

  Another man was missing from a Manila slum district after his hut was washed away, while two others were missing in Batangas province south of Manila after their car fell into a river when a bridge collapsed, civil defense spokesman Ernesto Torres said.

  Tropical Storm Ketsana, which struck on Sept. 26, caused massive flooding in Manila. Outlying districts that are home to more than 1 million people were expected to remain flooded into the New Year even before Mirinae hit.

  Navy and coast guard boats had been sent to Santa Cruz to rescue people, said Torres, who added that Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro was heading to the area to check on the extent of flooding and damage.

  “The waters were really high. It was like a flash flood. It was waist deep in our area, but in other areas it went as high as the rooftops,” traffic director Marlon Albay said.

  The highway to the town was covered by knee-high waters, preventing smaller vehicles from reaching it and prompting the military to send huge trucks to help residents, a photographer said. Hundreds of residents in these areas were seen wading through the dirty waters.

  Other towns in Laguna reported flooding, along with areas in the Bicol region further to the south, Torres said.

  However, more than 115,000 people had been evacuated from vulnerable regions before the typhoon hit, which likely prevented more deaths, Torres said.

  The typhoon caused power outages and knocked down trees across many areas of Manila, a sprawling city of 12 million people.

  It also forced flights to be suspended yesterday morning from Manila’s international airport.

  Ferries, a popular form of transport in the Southeast Asian archipelago, were also canceled, ruining travel plans for many who were hoping to head to their hometowns for the All Saints’ Day long-­weekend public holiday.

  As of 5pm, the typhoon had left Luzon and was charted 670km west of Manila, moving away from the country at 20kph, the government weather station said.

  “The worst is over for Metro Manila,” weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said.
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