Two dead as powerful storm batters Philippines

A powerful storm pounded the northern Philippines yesterday, 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 175km an hour 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 yesterday, provincial disaster official Constante Foronda said. A 16-year-old boy was crushed to death yesterday when a landslide struck a house in the northern mountain city of Baguio, city disaster official Julius Santos said. 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 said.
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 tomorrow. High waves lashed southeastern Taiwan coast yesterday, 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 said.
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.