Thread: Typhoon Fengshen 229 Dead in Philippines

Reports from regional disaster coordinating offices in the Philippines say twelve people have been killed while 27 others are missing in provinces affected by typhoon Fengshen.

Regional officials in southern and central Philippines say most of those killed in the onslaught of the typhoon were due to drowning and at least three of them were children.

ILOILO (AFP) - Flash floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Fengshen left at least 19 people dead in the Philippines, while an overflowing dam stranded tens of thousands on rooftops, officials said Saturday.

At least 30,000 people living in Iloilo in the central Philippines had scrambled onto rooftops fleeing the rushing water after the man-made dam overflowed, said the city's acting mayor Jed Mabilog.

. . .

"I have received a lot of text messages appealing for helicopters, there are many people trapped on the rooftops," Iloilo congressman Serg Biron told DZBB radio. "This is the worst flooding that has hit Iloilo in history."

Fengshen, upgraded from a tropical storm on Friday, swept through the country's center over the weekend, unleashing torrential rains, causing power outages and forcing the evacuations of hundreds of thousands of people.

Roads connecting the southern cities of Cotabato and General Santos on Mindanao island were flooded, while a concrete bridge also collapsed, isolating some villages and towns, Catholic-run radio station DXMS reported.

The storm forced more than 200,000 people to seek temporary shelter in the eastern Bicol region, the civil defence office said.

At 5:00 pm (0900 GMT) on Saturday, Fengshen was tracking northwest, packing winds of 195 kilometres an hour as it headed towards Mindoro province.

Manny Mogato, Manila
June 23, 2008

AT LEAST 229 people are known to have died in Typhoon Fengshen.

The ferocious storm ravaged the central and southern Philippines, Red Cross and civil defence officials said last night, and at least six people were reported missing.

The toll does not include the dead and missing from a ferry that sank in the central Philippines with about 747 people aboard. Four people have been confirmed dead in that accident, and there are four survivors. The rest are unaccounted for.