Typhoon Kammuri kills two in Philippines, closes Manila airport

MANILA: Typhoon Kammuri killed at least two people in the Philippines on Tuesday as it tore roofs off houses and forced the international airport in Manila to shut down.

The storm roared ashore late Monday and passed south of Manila -- home to 13 million people -- and thousands of athletes at the regional Southeast Asian Games. Just before it exited into the South China Sea, the typhoon killed two people in the central island of Mindoro, where one man was crushed by a falling tree and another killed by a flying piece of lumber, police said.

Ahead of the storm’s arrival a 33-year-old man was electrocuted on Monday while securing a roof against the winds, which by late Tuesday weakened to a maximum of 130 kilometres (81 miles) per hour.

Authorities were still assessing the storm’s impact, but a small local airport was seriously damaged, many power poles toppled and homes were battered. “A lot of trees fell... There were a lot of roofs flying during the typhoon too,” said Junie Castillo, a disaster officer in one of the areas first hit.

Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport was “closed for operations” due to high winds, leaving nearly 500 flights cancelled, general manager Ed Monreal told AFP. Flights would resume at 11:00 pm (1500 GMT), Monreal later told a news conference.

One of the terminals AFP visited, which would normally be bustling with morning departures, was occupied by a handful of staff and stranded passengers.

One traveller, 23-year-old Canadian Constance Benoit, was hit with a nearly day-long delay to her flight back home. She had arrived in Manila on a typhoon-buffeted flight Monday morning from the central island of Cebu.