Typhoon threatens northern RP

Typhoon threatens northern RP

MANILA (AFP): Fifty-five people were killed or went missing when Typhoon Gloria hit the Philippines, officials said yesterday, as a more powerful storm roared towards its northern islands.

The Manila Weather Bureau charted Typhoon Herb at 1,060 kilometers east of Basco town, the capital of the Batanes group of islands in the country's northernmost tip yesterday morning.

Packing peak winds of 150 kilometers an hour, it was swirling westerly at 17 kph (10.5 mph) toward Batanes.

The new typhoon triggered rains over the capital and wide areas of the main island of Luzon, battered last Thursday and Friday by Gloria before that storm moved off to Taiwan and southern China.