Typhoon sweeps over Philippines

Typhoon sweeps over Philippines

MANILA (AFP): Typhoon Xangsane, upgraded from a tropical storm, brushed past the northern Philippines on Tuesday after killing 26 people and displacing 150,000 others, weathermen and rescuers said.

The typhoon swept past Laoag in the northern part of the Philippine's main Luzon island before dawn and was tracked 80 kilometers northwest of the northern city at 10:00 am (9 a.m. Jakarta time), the weather bureau said.

The typhoon packed winds of 130 kilometers an hour and was moving north at 11 kilometers an hour toward a coordinate about 280 kilometers west of the sparsely populated Batan islands, near southern Taiwan.

Civil defense officials said the typhoon dumped heavy rain on the northeastern coast of Luzon, swelling rivers and forcing dam keepers to let out water from the Ambuklao, Binga and Magat reservoirs.