Blackfire Posted September 15, 2018 Posted September 15, 2018 Some 14 people have been killed in a massive storm which brought destruction to the northern Philippines, a presidential adviser says. Typhoon Mangkhut ripped through the Philippines' main island of Luzon, and is now moving west towards China. The storm tore off roofs, felled trees, triggered 42 landslides and caused extensive flooding. Mangkhut unleashed winds of 185km/h (115mph) as it careered from east to west across the north of Luzon. Five million people were in its path, and thousands were evacuated. How bad is the damage? Almost all buildings in the city of Tuguegarao - the capital city of the north-eastern Cagayan province - sustained some damage, a government official said, and communications were down in places. Francis Tolentino, a political adviser to President Rodrigo Duterte, said up to 14 people were killed as a result of the storm. Two rescuers died trying to help people trapped in a landslide. Unverified reports say the body of a young girl was found in the Marikina river, which flows through Manila. The mayor of the Baguio City said five people were killed there. Mauricio Domogan told CNN Philippines a similar number were also missing and the sewerage system was being overwhelmed by the floodwaters. The evacuation centre in the coastal town of Aparri is said to have been destroyed and phone networks are down. BBC correspondent Jonathan Head, who is in Luzon, saw 200 people who had taken shelter in one school being re-evacuated because a dyke holding back a swollen river was about to burst. The full cost of Typhoon Mangkhut on one of the country's most important food-producing regions cannot yet be assessed, he says. The typhoon recalls memories of the deadliest storm on record in the Philippines - Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 - which killed more than 7,000. However, preparation and evacuation procedures have been improved since then. What is the storm's path? The typhoon made landfall at Baggao, in the north-east of the Philippines, at about 01:40 local time on Saturday (17:40 GMT on Friday), and left the country some 20 hours later. After losing some of its wind speed over land as it headed west, the storm was downgraded from a super typhoon. It is forecast to weaken slightly as it approaches China from the south-east. The storm - known locally as Ompong - has a cloud diameter of about 900km and is heading west at about 30km/h. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) billed the storm as the strongest tropical cyclone the world has faced so far this year. The typhoon is forecast to pass near Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon. In nearby Macau, shops have been boarded up and residents have been sticking tape on their windows. The typhoon is expected to weaken into a tropical depression by Tuesday.
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