Super-typhoon 'Angela' kills 66 in Philippines
Super-typhoon 'Angela' kills 66 in Philippines
MANILA (Reuter): The most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines for years howled across the country yesterday, killing 66 people, sending more than 200,000 fleeing their homes and leaving millions without power.
"This is the worst beating we have ever had," Catanduanes governor Severo Alcantara told Reuters before communications with the island province were severed, apart from ham radio links.
Catanduanes, 350 km (220 miles) east of the capital Manila, was the first area to feel the fury of Angela, described by weathermen as a "super-typhoon" because of its size and power.
Up to 800 km (500 miles) in diameter and with winds initially gusting up to 250 kph (155 mph), Angela then scythed across the southern part of Luzon, the most prosperous and heavily populated island in this nation of 65 million people.
Its outer fringes began to hit Catanduanes on Thursday night and its center, or eye, passed just south of Manila by 11.30 a.m. (0330 GMT) yesterday, although its huge size meant its impact lingered for several hours.
Most of the deaths were drownings, although several people were killed by objects sent flying by the gales, disaster officials said.
The dead included a three-day-old baby, officials said.
Casualties
At least 10 people died when volcanic debris loosened by rain thundered down the flanks of Mount Mayon near Legazpi, the main city of the worst-hit Bicol region.
Thousands of traditional Filipino wood and palm-thatch homes were destroyed.
Initial estimates put damage to property and crops such as rice and coconuts at more than 1.2 billion pesos ($46.2 million).
"We have no food. We may die of starvation here," Raul Lee, governor of Sorsogon province in the Bicol region, told a Manila radio station.
"All of our crops have been destroyed. We are asking the government in Manila to please send us 200 sacks of rice. We have never seen a typhoon like this," he said.
President Fidel Ramos, taking personal charge of relief efforts in Manila, said: "Saving lives and reducing damage is the main event at this particular time."
More than 200,000 people, including 20,000 in the capital, fled for their lives and crowded into evacuation centers in schools, churches and, in at least one case, a shopping mall.
The normally congested capital turned into a ghost town as its 8.5 million people cowered indoors. In the deserted business district of Makati the wind set up an eerie shrieking noise as it pounded high rise buildings.
Angela is the worst cyclone to strike the Philippines, battered by an average 20 storms a year, since typhoon Nina killed 1,000 people in 1987.
It struck less than a week after Typhoon Zack killed more than 160 people in the central Philippines and devastated rice and sugar crops.
Angela inflicted severe damage on Luzon's electricity supply, knocking down power lines and leaving millions of people in darkness or dependent on emergency generators.
Manila airport was closed for most of the day but reopened around 7.30 p.m. (1130 GMT).
Weather forecasters said that by the time Angela had left the Philippines, it had weakened slightly to a top wind speed of 170 kph (106 mph) and was heading across the South China Sea, roughly in the direction of Vietnam.