More misery for Philippines as second typhoon in a week batters north

THE second typhoon in a week battered the rain-soaked northern Philippines yesterday, adding to the misery of thousands of people, some of whom were still perched on rooftops from previous flooding.

Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate their homes after Typhoon Nalgae slammed ashore south of north-eastern Palanan Bay in Isabela province with winds of 100mph and gusts of 121mph. At least one person was killed in a landslide.

The fast-moving typhoon blew westward, barrelling across the mountainous regions of Luzon Island. It weakened slightly as it reached the shore of La Union province around 8am, about seven hours after it made landfall. Forecasters said it would be over the South China Sea by last night and was expected to regain strength as it heads west toward Hainan and Vietnam.

A landslide in northern Bontoc province smashed into a passenger van on a mountain highway, killing one passenger and injuring another, civil defence chief Benito Ramos said.

The typhoon took a similar path across areas on Luzon saturated by Typhoon Nesat, which trapped thousands on rooftops and caused huge waves that breached a seawall in Manila Bay. The Office of Civil Defence said the death toll from Nesat had risen to 52 after two more victims drowned in its floodwaters. It said 31 others were missing.

Nesat also pummelled southern China and was downgraded to a tropical storm just before churning into northern Vietnam on Friday afternoon, where flood warnings were issued and 20,000 people evacuated. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Vietnam and the country did not appear to have suffered any major problems.

In the Philippines, nearly 400,000 took cover in evacuation centres and in homes of relatives and friends along the new typhoon’s path. There was heavy rainfall within the storm’s 340-mile diameter that put the northern provinces, including the capital, on alert.

Isabela authorities earlier shut down electricity in the province in anticipation of power-lines being felled by the winds.

The howling winds toppled trees and blew away tin roofs of some houses in Isabela’s provincial capital of Ilagan. In nearby Luna township, a bus with about 30 passengers was blown on to its side in to a rice field.