Tropical storm kills 11 in Philippines

(AP)
Updated: 2007-08-08 00:05

MANILA, Philippines _ Tropical Storm Pabuk triggered landslides that killed at least 11 people in the Philippines, then blew across southern Taiwan's tip Wednesday, disrupting power supplies to 3,000 households and forcing schools and offices to close.

The Chinese mainland braced for the approaching Pabuk by recalling 266,000 fishermen and sailors along with 50,401 fishing vessels to land in eastern Fujian province Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Pabuk bolstered monsoon rains across the Philippines, causing a landslide that buried seven houses and killed at least 10 people Monday in the southern gold mining town of Maco in Compostela Valley province, according to Glenn Rabonza, administrator of the Office of Civil Defense and government forecasters.

At least 80 residents were evacuated from their homes due to fears of more landslides in the hilly area, Rabonza said.

Pabuk, along with a new storm brewing off the country's northeast coast, brought more rains overnight, triggering another landslide that buried a house and killed a 9-year-old boy in the northern mountain resort city of Baguio at dawn Wednesday, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said.

In hilly Antipolo city east of the capital, Manila, policemen and firefighters pulled five children from the rubble of their house Wednesday after a concrete wall collapsed on it during a downpour, police Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan said.

The siblings, who had yelled for help from under the debris, were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, he said.

TV footage showed rescuers scrambling to lift or break a slab of concrete with sledgehammers to free one of the screaming children.

"Are you hurt?" a rescuer yelled. "Yes, my body," came a feeble voice from the debris.

Rescuers broke into applause after they pulled the last child from the rubble.

Heavy rains flooded many Manila streets, forcing schools to close and leaving commuters stranded, officials said.

The government announced that schools would remain closed Thursday in the capital and 13 other northern provinces due to expected heavy rains. Authorities reiterated a warning to small seacraft not to venture out into the sea amid the rough weather.

Floods submerged nearly all of suburban Malabon city near the capital, where water was neck deep in some low-lying neighborhoods. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in the city, local government spokesman Bong Padua said.

A tornado ripped off the thatch and tin roofs of more than 20 shanties in a farming village in Bulacan province north of Manila, panicking residents but causing no injuries, police Superintendent Pedro Silvio said.

The residents sought shelter in the homes of relatives and neighbors, he said.

Pabuk blew out of the mountainous northern Philippines shortly before noon and then swirled across the southern tip of Taiwan, bringing heavy rains but causing no major damage or casualties, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.

On Lanyu island off southeast Taiwan, hit first by the typhoon, offices and schools were closed Tuesday afternoon.

Elsewhere, power supplies were disrupted to 3,000 households in the southern county of Pingtung, the Central News Agency said.

China, where two typhoons left about 1,000 people dead last year, recalled fishermen and sailors along with their seacraft to Fujian province Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

After hitting southern Taiwan, Pabuk _ named after a large freshwater fish in Laos _ was moving northwest at 25 kilometers (15 miles) per hour and was expected to hit Shantou in southern Guangdong province late Wednesday, Xinhua quoted the Fujian Meteorological Observatory as saying.

A stronger tropical storm, Wutip, has developed over the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines and was forecast to hit Fujian on Friday afternoon, the observatory said.

The rains in the Philippines followed a three-month dry spell that prompted clergy to urge congregations across the predominantly Roman Catholic country to pray for rain over the weekend.

The dry spell had led to water shortages and caused sporadic electricity blackouts in the bustling Philippine capital.



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