Environment

Typhoon Driven Tropical Storm Hits Northeast Coast of Philippines

by Tina Kells | May 3, 2009 at 09:15 am

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A tropical storm has battered farmlands on the northeasten coast of the Phillipines. The typhoon caused a series of landslides in a coastal village in Maganelles killing at least 11 people including two children.

Nine of the 11 bodies were recovered as rescue crews used all available tools, including their hands, to reach those who were buried before it was too late. The other two died from drowning at a different site.

45,000 villagers in nearby Albay province were relocated to temporary shelters on fears that mudslides would claim their homes at the bottom of the Mayon volcano.

The storm, with sustained winds of 95kph and gusts of up to 120kph was about 110km off the country's northeastern coast and moving towards the Pacific Ocean, Manny Mendoza, a government weather forecaster, said.

About 20 typhoons lash the country each year, mostly after June.

The current storm struck in the middle of the Philippine summer, an unusual
occurrence that may have been caused by changing weather patterns caused by global warming, Alejandro said.