Super-typhoon 'Angela' kills 66 in Philippines<\/p>\n
MANILA (Reuter): The most powerful typhoon to hit the
\nPhilippines for years howled across the country yesterday,
\nkilling 66 people, sending more than 200,000 fleeing their homes
\nand leaving millions without power.<\/p>\n
\"This is the worst beating we have ever had,\" Catanduanes
\ngovernor Severo Alcantara told Reuters before communications with
\nthe island province were severed, apart from ham radio links.<\/p>\n
Catanduanes, 350 km (220 miles) east of the capital Manila,
\nwas the first area to feel the fury of Angela, described by
\nweathermen as a \"super-typhoon\" because of its size and power.<\/p>\n
Up to 800 km (500 miles) in diameter and with winds initially
\ngusting up to 250 kph (155 mph), Angela then scythed across the
\nsouthern part of Luzon, the most prosperous and heavily populated
\nisland in this nation of 65 million people.<\/p>\n
Its outer fringes began to hit Catanduanes on Thursday night
\nand its center, or eye, passed just south of Manila by 11.30 a.m.
\n(0330 GMT) yesterday, although its huge size meant its impact
\nlingered for several hours.<\/p>\n
Most of the deaths were drownings, although several people
\nwere killed by objects sent flying by the gales, disaster
\nofficials said.<\/p>\n
The dead included a three-day-old baby, officials said.<\/p>\n
Casualties<\/p>\n
At least 10 people died when volcanic debris loosened by rain
\nthundered down the flanks of Mount Mayon near Legazpi, the main
\ncity of the worst-hit Bicol region.<\/p>\n
Thousands of traditional Filipino wood and palm-thatch homes
\nwere destroyed.<\/p>\n
Initial estimates put damage to property and crops such as
\nrice and coconuts at more than 1.2 billion pesos ($46.2 million).<\/p>\n
\"We have no food. We may die of starvation here,\" Raul Lee,
\ngovernor of Sorsogon province in the Bicol region, told a Manila
\nradio station.<\/p>\n
\"All of our crops have been destroyed. We are asking the
\ngovernment in Manila to please send us 200 sacks of rice. We have
\nnever seen a typhoon like this,\" he said.<\/p>\n
President Fidel Ramos, taking personal charge of relief
\nefforts in Manila, said: \"Saving lives and reducing damage is the
\nmain event at this particular time.\"<\/p>\n
More than 200,000 people, including 20,000 in the capital,
\nfled for their lives and crowded into evacuation centers in
\nschools, churches and, in at least one case, a shopping mall.<\/p>\n
The normally congested capital turned into a ghost town as its
\n8.5 million people cowered indoors. In the deserted business
\ndistrict of Makati the wind set up an eerie shrieking noise as it
\npounded high rise buildings.<\/p>\n
Angela is the worst cyclone to strike the Philippines,
\nbattered by an average 20 storms a year, since typhoon Nina
\nkilled 1,000 people in 1987.<\/p>\n
It struck less than a week after Typhoon Zack killed more than
\n160 people in the central Philippines and devastated rice and
\nsugar crops.<\/p>\n
Angela inflicted severe damage on Luzon's electricity supply,
\nknocking down power lines and leaving millions of people in
\ndarkness or dependent on emergency generators.<\/p>\n
Manila airport was closed for most of the day but reopened
\naround 7.30 p.m. (1130 GMT).<\/p>\n
Weather forecasters said that by the time Angela had left the
\nPhilippines, it had weakened slightly to a top wind speed of 170
\nkph (106 mph) and was heading across the South China Sea, roughly
\nin the direction of Vietnam.<\/p>",
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