Super Typhoon Haima Batters Philippines

Local Editor

At least five people were killed after Super Typhoon Haima smashed into northern Philippines.

At least five people were killed after Super Typhoon Haima smashed into the northern Philippines bringing sustained winds of up to 225km/h [140mph] and rains overnight, flooding towns and forcing thousands to flee before weakening Thursday and blowing into the South China Sea, officials said.

The storm made landfall over Cagayan in the north on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of people had been evacuated from threatened areas as the storm approached.

Nearly 100,000 villagers were evacuated from high-risk communities as the typhoon approached, helping prevent a larger number of casualties.

There was widespread damage overnight, with homes destroyed and power lines brought down.

Experts had feared Haima could prove as destructive as the catastrophic super typhoon Haiyan, which claimed more than 7,350 lives in 2013.

Two construction workers died, however, when a landslide buried their shanty in La Trinidad town in the mountain province of Benguet, officials said, while two villagers drowned in floodwaters and another is missing in Ifugao province, near Benguet.

A 70-year-old man died apparently of a heart attack while being brought to an emergency shelter from a flooded neighborhood in Isabela province, officials said.
The Philippines endures around 20 major storms every year, many of them deadly.

The storm was upgraded to a super typhoon just before it hit, making landfall in Penablanca, a town in Cagayan province, around 23:00 local time [1500 GMT] on Wednesday.

"We can't go out because the wind is so intense, trees are being forced down," local councilor Elisa Arugay told DZMM radio from Camasi village in Penablanca.

On Thursday morning, there were reports of damage across a wide area.

"Rice and corn plants as far as the eye can see are flattened," Villamor Visaya, a teacher in the northern city of Ilagan told the AFP.

"Many houses were destroyed. I saw one school building crushed under a large tree... it was as if our house was being pulled from its foundations."

Haima, known as Lawin locally, had a weather band 800km [500 miles] wide, and authorities had warned the public to expect fierce winds and storm surges up to five meters [16 feet] or higher.

Haima is the second typhoon to hit the Philippines in a week, after Sarika struck on Sunday. At least one person was killed in that storm, and three people are still missing.

Although weakening, the typhoon was expected to blow toward China, Filipino forecasters said.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, on a state visit to China, urged people in the typhoon's path to heed orders by disaster agencies. Duterte is to fly home Friday.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team