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Philippines Typhoon

August 28, 2011 by · Comments Off on Philippines Typhoon 

Philippines TyphoonPhilippines Typhoon, Typhoon Nanmadol blew toward Taiwan on Sunday after leaving at least 10 people and to scuttle the visit of a group of U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Philippines, officials said.

Taiwan issued land and sea warnings and planned to evacuate about 6,000 people in eastern and southern regions, as they prepared for the typhoon. Troops and rescue teams were deployed in the Taiwan Defense Ministry said.

With its huge cloud band, the typhoon drenched the northern Philippines with the rain of days before hitting the area with strong winds, causing landslides and floods and knocking down walls that killed at least 10 people dead and six others missing. Landslides and fallen trees injured around 20, said Benito Ramos, who heads the Office of Civil Defense.

Strong winds knocked down a concrete wall that hit a small restaurant in the city of Quezon suburbs of the capital Sunday, killing one man and wounding two others, police said.

In City Mountain Resort north of Baguio, a concrete wall collapsed landfill and buried under three tons of garbage slums Saturday, killing two children. His grandmother still missing, said Ramos.

Seven other people died in mudslides or drowned, including a fisherman whose body was found floating Saturday in the eastern province of Catanduanes. The decision of many residents to flee to safety before the typhoon struck and monitoring has helped reduce the number of victims, said Ramos.

In the northern province of Benguet, Carlos Reynaldo bus driver ordered passengers to escape on Saturday after seeing the mud, debris and rocks emerging from a mountainside toward the vehicle, which was trapped in a muddy road.

The bus, its engine still running, was dragged by a 200 feet (60 meters) cliff after all escaped, authorities said.

“I was trembling with fear after I realized how close we were to death,” Carlos told The Associated Press by telephone.

About 20 landslides blocked roads in Benguet, a gold mining region about 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Manila. More than 57,000 people fled their homes there and in 10 other northern provinces at the height of the typhoon, officials said.

U.S. Officials Manila postponed a visit by John Group of the U.S. Navy C. Stennis carrier strike initially planned for this weekend due to bad weather.

The U.S. embassy said all visits by aircraft carriers, and a reception on board, had been canceled.

The national airline also canceled more than a dozen flights to areas affected by the typhoon in northern and central Philippines.

Nanmadol had sustained winds of 121 miles (195 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 143 mph (230 kph) Friday, becoming the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year. It weakened after grazing the northern province of Cagayan Saturday. Flew through the northernmost Batanes islands, with 75 mph (120 kph) Sunday and then began to move abroad, the Philippine government meteorologists said.

Nanmadol is expected to arrive in Taiwan as soon as Monday, Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan, he said. He urged residents to prepare for high winds and torrential rains, and warned of landslides in mountainous regions and floods in low areas.

On Sunday, television pictures showed parts of eastern and southern Taiwan, soaked by rain. Strong winds from a truck on a highway in the eastern province of Taiwan Taitung.

Ferries connecting mainland Taiwan islets and some domestic flights were canceled. The train service in southern and eastern Taiwan would be suspended, and two main roads in eastern and central Taiwan were closed from Sunday afternoon.

Two counties in eastern Taiwan said people did not have to go to school or work Monday.

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