Storm Zack kills nearly 100 in the Philippines
Storm Zack kills nearly 100 in the Philippines
BACOLOD, Philippines (Reuter): Tropical storm Zack killed
nearly 100 people, forced 60,000 others to flee their homes and
sank two passenger ferries in a devastating sweep across the
central Philippines, officials said yesterday.
The storm flattened more than 2,000 houses, most of them built
of wood, downed power lines, knocked out telephones in eight
provincial cities and triggered floods that ravaged sugarcane
plantations in the Visayas region.
More than 5,000 other houses were partially damaged, relief
officials said.
In Manila, President Fidel Ramos declared a state of calamity
in Visayas to enable the central government to release emergency
funds to rebuild the area.
Relief agencies reported at least 89 dead but officials said
they expected the toll to rise when they heard from interior
villages cut off after Zack's 105 kph (65 mph) center winds hit
10 provinces in the area on Saturday.
Most of the deaths were drownings and some people were crushed
to death by falling trees, relief officials said.
Many families climbed to the roofs of their houses as rivers
swelled and sent floodwaters rampaging through 100 villages in
Iloilo province on Panay island, provincial governor Arturo
Defensor said.
"The damage to our sugar is terrible. We're not able to
quantify it at this time," he added by telephone.
Governor Rafael Coscolluela of Negros Occidental, 550
kilometers southeast of Manila, referring to potential sugar
losses, said "In some areas, it looks bad."
Officials said raw sugar output in the 1995/96 season might be
reduced as a result of destruction of plantations. Negros and
Panay islands produce nearly 70 percent of the country's sugar.
At least 57 people died in Negros Occidental, many of them
drowned, while another 23 were missing. Fifteen people were
killed in Iloilo and 17 on Cebu island, local officials said.
About 30 other people were injured.
By late yesterday, Negros Occidental and Iloilo, with a
combined population of almost five million, remained without
power.
The storm lifted iron sheets from roofs of several
schoolhouses in Iloilo and hurled them 100 meters, provincial
councillor Pablito Araneta said.
About 35,000 people abandoned their homes in Negros and 25,000
others fled to schools, churches and gymnasiums in Iloilo and
Cebu, relief officials said.
"We have three major problems, food, power and potable water,"
Iloilo's Defensor said. "We need immediate massive assistance."
The 352-ton inter-island Cebu Diamond ferry sank off Camotes
island but 46 of its 51 crewmen were rescued by passing foreign
ships or swam ashore to safety, the coast guard said. Five were
missing.
A small motor launch sank off Guimaras island but five of its
eight occupants were rescued. Three others were missing.
Philippine Airlines cancelled more than 30 domestic flights.
The storm headed towards the South China Sea yesterday where
it was expected to intensify, the weather bureau said.