Foreign
A disaster agency on Monday said 13 people are missing as Typhoon Molave battered the Philippines, triggering flooding, tearing off roofs and knocking down trees.
Mark Timbal, the spokesperson for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said 12 fishermen from Catanduanes, an island province in the Bicol region, were reported missing.
Timbal added that the NDRRMC is still culling for more information from its agencies in the regions.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) also reported that one person is also missing after a yacht sank off Bauan town in Batangas province, south of Manila, adding that seven other crew members of the yacht were rescued.
Typhoon Molave made its first landfall in Tabaco City in the Bicol region, south of Manila, on Sunday evening.
In a report, the NDRRMC said there were no immediate reports of deaths from the typhoon.
However, the agency said the typhoon, packing sustained winds of 125 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 150 kilometres per hour, has affected at least 4,316 families so far in at least four regions south of Manila and the Cordillera Administrative Region in the northern Philippines.
The government had advised people in the provinces in the typhoon path to be vigilant for floods and landslides.
The coast guard said more than 1,000 cargo truck drivers, workers and passengers of over 20 vessels and cargo ships were stranded in over 30 ports in the affected regions.
It added that at least 121 vessels and motorboats are taking shelters and prevented from venturing into rough seas.
The state weather bureau warned that the typhoon will dump more rain in many provinces and regions, including in the capital Manila.
Molave is the 17th typhoon or tropical storms to batter the Philippines this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency said Typhoon Saudel, which battered the Philippines last week, also triggered flooding and displaced over 20,000 people.
It also damaged crops and roads.
About 20 typhoons and tropical storms batter the Philippines each year.
The Southeast Asian archipelago of 110 million people has frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Typhoon Molave is blowing westward at 25 kilometres per hour.
It is forecast to blow towards the South China Sea on Tuesday. (Xinhua/NAN)
– Oct. 26 2020 @ 13:05 GMT |
Tags: 13 missing as Typhoon Molave hits the Philippines
