Typhoon Babs pummels RP

Typhoon Babs pummels RP

MANILA (AFP): Typhoon Babs battered the Philippines on Thursday, killing seven people, sending 200,000 fleeing from its deadly path and leaving a trail of damage to worsen the country's economic gloom.

Babs hit the eastern island of Catanduanes with its full fury packing gusts of up to 200 kilometers per hour before dawn and flattening "80 percent" of the island's buildings, House of Representatives member Leandro Verceles said over DZRH radio station.

The typhoon left a large footprint, raking across the coconut- growing regions south and east of Manila and knocking out power in areas within a 400-kilometer radius from the capital.

It is the second typhoon to hit the country in a week after Typhoon Zeb slammed into the northern Philippines, leaving at least 83 dead and devastating large rice-growing areas.