9 die as storm hits Philippines

9 people were killed and 25 went missing as a tropical storm struck the Philippines, causing floods and landslides that forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, officials said yesterday. Tropical storm Nock-ten brought unusually heavy rains to the Pacific coast as the cyclone hovered over the southern section of the main island of Luzon yesterday afternoon, the state weather service said. The government’s civil defence administrator Benito Ramos estimated some half a million people lived in the hardest-hit areas, with one local official putting the number of people who fled their homes in the tens of thousands. “The entire (province of) Albay is affected and reporting massive floods, landslides, and homes destroyed,” Ramos told reporters. Bernardo Alejandro, the top civil defence official of the region, said evacuations were ongoing but that they did not have the exact figures. “Many areas are isolated by floods and so we could not send people out to help them,” Alejandro added. Albay provincial governor Joey Salceda had earlier put the number of evacuees in his province at 70,000 people. Landslides, toppled trees and power lines as well as floods killed seven people in the largely-rural province, Salceda told reporters. One person died swimming across a swollen river and another was fatally electrocuted by a fallen power line on Catanduanes island, off Albay, said Ramos’ office, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. At least 25 fishermen went missing while seven others were rescued at sea after big waves stirred up by Nock-ten struck their mainly small boats, it added. Classes were called off in Manila and nearby provinces and about 20 local flights were cancelled, the council said. The storm, packing slightly reduced 75kph winds, hovered off the Bicol peninsula on Luzon’s southern tip at 4pm (0800 GMT), state weather specialist Robert Sawi told a news conference. Nock-ten should be over the South China Sea early Thursday after raking across the centre of Luzon just north of Manila on Wednesday, he added. Some 199mm of rain fell over Catanduanes, and 118mm over Albay, in six hours, Sawi said. Rainfall of more than 45mm over a six-hour period is considered heavy, he added.