Super-typhoon Nanmadol killed at least eight people and left flattened bridges and blocked roads in its wake as it moved away from the Philippines and churned towards Taiwan, officials said on Sunday.
The toll of dead and missing is likely to rise as officials assess the full impact of the storm, the strongest to hit the country this year, said Emilia Tadeo of the civil defense damage report section.
“After the rains have subsided, that is only when we find the additional casualties and damages, when the local responders submit them to us,” Tadeo told Agence France-Presse.
Five were killed by landslides including two children buried by an avalanche of rubbish at a tip in the northern mountain city of Baguio, the civil defence office said.
Two people drowned while another was crushed by a falling wall, weakened by the rain.
A further six people are considered missing after vanishing at sea or being swept away by overflowing rivers as Nanmadol brought heavy rain to the northern Philippines, the civil defence office said.
More than 57 000 people were forced to flee their homes due to the risk of floods and landslides in the mountainous north, the office added.
Relief efforts
President Benigno Aquino’s spokesperson Abigail Valte said the government had pre-positioned relief goods and rescue personnel at vulnerable areas to help those affected by the storm.
Eight bridges were destroyed and 20 major roads rendered impassable when Nanmadol hit with gusts of up to 230km per hour, the civil defense office added.
The typhoon had weakened after clipping the northern edge of the main Philippine island of Luzon but storm alerts remained in force on Sunday as the typhoon slowly moved towards Taiwan.
An average of 20 storms and typhoons, many of them deadly, hit the Philippines annually. The last storms, Nock-ten and Muifa, left at least 70 dead when they hit in July.
Nanmadol, named after an ancient site in Micronesia, is forecast to hit Taiwan on Tuesday before cutting across to China.
Evacuations
Taiwan evacuated 2 500 villagers from the east and south of the island on Sunday, the Central Emergency Centre said.
A Singapore-bound flight and 22 domestic services have been cancelled while shipping transportation services between Taiwan and several offshore islands have also been interrupted.
The Central Weather Bureau urged the public to stay away from mountainous and low-lying areas as the typhoon, Taiwan’s first of the year, may bring fierce wind and heavy rain, sparking flash floods and landslides.
The defense ministry ordered 35 000 soldiers in the east to stand by.
The weather bureau said the storm was packing gusts of 155km an hour and moving north at 10km an hour. — AFP