6 killed as typhoon batters Philippines

SAN ILDEFONSO, Philippines — The strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year left at least six people dead, authorities said on Monday, after heavy rain and fierce winds battered the country's most populous island.

Typhoon Noru toppled trees, knocked out power and flooded low-lying communities as it swept across Luzon on Sunday and Monday.

The most powerful typhoon to hit the country this year slammed ashore in Burdeos town in Quezon province before nightfall on Sunday, then weakened as it barreled overnight across the main Luzon region, where more than 52,000 people were moved to emergency shelters, some forcibly, officials said.

There have so far been no reports of widespread severe damage from the storm, which hit the country as a super typhoon.

"We were ready for all of this," Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told a briefing with disaster agencies.

Five rescuers were killed after they were sent to help flooded residents in San Miguel municipality in Bulacan province, near the capital Manila.

Garner Jimenez from the local civil defense office said the rescuers were wading through floodwaters when a wall beside them collapsed, sending them into the fast current.

The Philippines is regularly ravaged by storms, with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.

Noru smashed into the archipelago nation on Sunday after an unprecedented "explosive intensification" in wind speeds, the state weather forecaster said earlier.

It made landfall about 100 kilometers northeast of the densely populated capital Manila, before weakening to a typhoon as it crossed a mountain range, coconut plantations and rice fields.

Nearly 75,000 people were evacuated from their homes before the storm hit, as the meteorology agency warned that heavy rain could cause "serious flooding" in vulnerable areas, trigger landslides and destroy crops.

The stock market, government offices and schools were closed on Monday as authorities raced to deal with the aftermath of Typhoon Noru, which has weakened since passing through the Philippines on Sunday night and was headed out over the South China Sea toward Vietnam.

The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, sees an average of 20 tropical storms yearly. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded, killed 6,300 people.

Agencies via Xinhua