A powerful storm pounded the northern Philippines on Wednesday, killing at least two people, toppling trees and knocking out power as thousands sheltered with neighbours or in emergency evacuation centres.
Typhoon Doksuri was "slowly moving away from Dalupiri Island", off the northern tip of the main island of Luzon, and into open waters, the state weather agency said in its 0900 GMT update.
The agency earlier warned of "violent, life-threatening conditions" as severe maximum sustained winds of 175 kilometres an hour (110 mph) and heavy rain pounded the lightly populated region.
A woman selling bread rolls died when she was hit by a falling coconut tree in the northern province of Isabela on Wednesday, provincial disaster official Constante Foronda told AFP.
A 16-year-old boy was crushed to death Wednesday when a landslide struck a house in the northern mountain city of Baguio, city disaster official Julius Santos told AFP.
Rey Aguinaldo, a retired government official in the coastal Ilocos Norte province, said: "The wind and rain were so strong overnight I could not sleep well."
"When I got up today, I saw fallen trees and broken branches outside. We have no electricity," he told AFP.
Doksuri had been a super typhoon as it swept across the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday but weakened as it neared the Philippines.
The storm is expected to weaken as it moves across the South China Sea, grazing Taiwan before making landfall in southeast China on Friday.
High waves lashed southeastern Taiwan coast on Wednesday, with the Central Weather Bureau issuing warnings and heavy rain advisories.
China also issued its highest alert for Doksuri, stopping trains and calling fishing boats to shore as the storm approaches.
In the Philippines, around 12,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Cagayan province, including 431 in the Babuyan islands, following warnings of three-metre storm surges, Cagayan disaster official Ruelie Rapsing told AFP.
Dalupiri is one of the five islands that make up the tiny Babuyan archipelago.
Widespread flooding and power cuts were reported in the north of Luzon, while landslides blocked key arteries in its mountainous interior.
About 1,500 people were also evacuated from coastal communities in neighbouring Isabela, Foronda said.
"We won't allow them to go home until we get the all clear from the experts," he said.
Some evacuees have sheltered with neighbours who had concrete houses, while others were taken to municipal halls.
"The roof of the Sanchez Mira municipal hall was blown off," Rapsing added.
"The windows of an evacuation centre there also broke so we had to move them to multi-purpose halls back in their villages."
© Agence France-Presse
Sign In
