Lingling hits RP, 66 killed, 110 missing

Lingling hits RP, 66 killed, 110 missing

Agence France-Presse, Cagayan de Oro, Philippines

Tropical storm Lingling killed at least 66 people and left
another 110 missing as it cut a swathe of destruction across the
central and southern Philippines on Wednesday.

The heaviest hit area was the southern island of Camiguin,
where at least 54 people died after tornadoes battered its five
coastal towns and flash floods washed away an entire village.

And local officials said Cebu, a metropolis of 800,000 people
and the country's second largest city, was in a "state of
calamity".

Lingling, packing winds of 75 kilometers an hour, crept in
from the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday morning, dumping heavy rain on
central islands and sections of the major southern island of
Mindanao, including Cagayan de Oro city.

"So far based on the official report given to us by our men in
the area, 54 people were killed and 110 were missing in
Camiguin," military southern command spokesman Col. Danilo
Servando said over radio station DZRH.

Eight people drowned in Cagayan de Oro while two children were
lost to rampaging waters in Cebu.

Up to 20 typhoons and storms visit this Southeast Asian
archipelago every year, but few hit Camiguin and Mindanao and
fewer arrive later than October, weathermen said.

"What happened in Camiguin was surprising, especially that the
tropical storm came in November," said a civil defense official
who asked not to be named.

The official said Lingling's devastation was "maybe only
comparable" with flash floods that swamped the central city of
Ormoc 10 years ago, killing several thousand people.

Servando said government efforts to respond to the emergency
had been "limited" as helicopters meant to carry supplies and
rescue workers were grounded by bad weather.

The Office of Civil Defense said all electricity and about 50
percent of communication lines on Camiguin were cut off.

Roads and at least 50 houses in the islands capital of
Mambajao were washed away by floods while a vital bridge in
another town was rendered impassable by high waters.

"This is the first time this has happened in Camiguin... that
there are flash floods across the island," provincial governor
Pedro Romualdo said.

"Municipal halls have been turned into evacuation centers."

In Negros Occidental province, a fisherman drowned while
trying to retrieve a fishing boat in a swollen river in the
village of Tiglawigna, while a woman was swept away by floods in
another village and later found dead.

Authorities were also trying to verify reports that a fishing
boat with seven men capsized off this central city.

Meanwhile, much of Cebu city, on the central island of the
same name, was also under water after more than 12 hours of
continuous rain.

Provincial governor Pablo Garcia declared the island of 1.5
million people in a "state of calamity".

Cars were submerged in neck-deep waters on one major Cebu
highway, while landslides cut off another highway.

At least one commercial flight from Manila aborted a Cebu
landing and returned to Manila due to poor visibility, local
aviation officials said.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded as most inter-island
ferry services in Cebu, the Bicol region and Samar island in the
east were suspended.

Lingling was forecast to hit Roxas city on Panay island
overnight Wednesday and Mindoro island on Thursday, weathermen
said.

"This disturbance is expected to affect the entire Visayas
area," chief state weather forecaster Prisco Nilo said, referring
to the central Philippines.