Thousands flee as fourth major storm hits Philippines

MANILA: Thousands of people sought shelter, ports were shut down and landslides blocked mountain roads in the Philippines on Monday, as the disaster-weary nation was struck by a fourth cyclone in less than a month.

Typhoon Toraji hit near Dilasag town, about 220-kms northeast of the capital in the morning, the national weather agency said. “We´re getting hit with strong winds and heavy rain. Some trees are being toppled and power has been cut since yesterday,” Merwina Pableo, civil defence chief of Dinalungan town near Dilasag, told AFP.

No casualties have been reported 11 hours after the typhoon ploughed through the mountainous interior of the main island of Luzon, provincial rescuers told AFP. They said at least 8,000 people were moved from coastal areas as well as flood and landslide-prone areas in the provinces of Aurora, Isabela, Ifugao, and Mountain Province.

In all, the government ordered 2,500 villages to be evacuated on Sunday, though the national disaster office does not have the total number of evacuees as of Monday. The typhoon weakened slightly as it hit the Luzon mountain ranges and was headed for Abra and Ilocos Sur provinces at 120-kms an hour before it is forecast to exit in the South China Sea overnight Monday, the national weather service said.

Landslides induced by heavy rain buried three key roads in the Cordillera mountain range, a civil defence official told AFP. A passenger ferry ran aground in rough seas off the central island of Romblon but the 156 passengers and 38 crew members were rescued unharmed, the coast guard said. The national weather agency had warned of severe winds and “intense to torrential” rainfall exceeding 200 millimetres (eight inches) over a 24-hour period across the north of the country.

In the landfall area of Dilasag, school teacher Glenn Balanag, 31, filmed the onslaught of the howling 130-kms an hour winds, which violently shook coconut trees around his rural home. “Big trees are falling and we heard the roofs of some houses were damaged. The rain is continuing and a river nearby is rising,” he told AFP.

There was also a “moderate to high risk of a storm surge” -- giant waves up to three metres (10 feet) high on the north coast until Tuesday, it added. Schools and government offices were shut in areas expected to be hit hardest by the latest typhoon.