Morakot causes death,floods and landslides in Phillipines

Yesterday Typhoon Morakot battered the Phillipine island of Luzon leaving 20 people or more dead and many injured. The storm just grazed the island nation yet caused significant damage and destruction including heavy rain and landslides.

Flood beats rescuers, 20 dead (Straits Times)

BOTOLAN (Philippines) - RESCUERS struggled to evacuate hundreds of villagers caught by rampaging flash floods in the northern Philippines Saturday as the death toll rose to 20, officials said.

Police said the bodies of eight of 12 miners buried Friday by a landslide that hit a mining area in the northern city of Baguio have been recovered. Provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Danilo Pelisco said they were still looking for six other miners.

Some 173,171 people in seven provinces in the northern island of Luzon have been displaced by flooding and landslides in the wake of Typhoon Morakot, which grazed the country before making landfall in Taiwan overnight, disaster relief officials said.

Among those also killed were two French tourists and a Belgian who went hiking on Mount Pinatubo volcano on Thursday despite warnings from local officials of rampaging waters on its slopes.

In the northern town of Botolan in Zambales provinces, rescuers on Saturday were battling strong currents to evacuate hundreds of residents marooned in their homes after rainwater and mud from the slopes of Pinatubo breached a dike.

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The government has declared Zambales under a 'state of calamity' and released emergency funding to help the provincial government. The state weather bureau said that while Morakot had now passed the Philippines, it would continue to bring rains across Luzon that could cause flash floods and landslides. -- AFP

Deadly Typhoon Morakot heads toward China (CNN)

(CNN) -- The fringes of Typhoon Morakot killed 10 people and injured 18 others in the Philippines, a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Coordinating Council told CNN.

Three French tourists died when their vehicle was swept into the water; two local tourist guides also died when they tried to rescue them, she said.

Heavy rain triggered at least 10 landslides, one of which destroyed a school, the spokeswoman said, adding that 23 structures were destroyed and six were damaged.
The Philippines was expected to clear up late Saturday morning, said CNN Meteorologist Kevin Corriveau.

Pictures of the floods caused by Morakot in the Phillipines (M&C)