Typhoon Phanfone: Philippines Death Toll Reaches 28

By Staff, Agencies

The death toll from a Christmas typhoon that tore through the central Philippines rose to 28 on Friday, with 12 people missing, according to the disaster agency.

Typhoon Phanfone hit late on Tuesday with winds of up to 120 kph and gusts of 150 kph, dumping sheets of uninterrupted rain on a string of islands, damaging hundreds of homes and causing flooding in eight areas, Reuters reported.

It was the seventh typhoon to strike the Philippines this year and came as millions of people in the predominantly Catholic country were heading home to celebrate Christmas with families.

Some 43,000 people were in temporary shelters on Friday, among the 185,000 impacted by the typhoon, which destroyed 49 homes and partially damaged 2,000.

There was widespread travel disruption with 115 flights canceled and thousands of people stranded by the suspension of ferries due to storm surges.

It was unclear how the deaths occurred, but officials said some were hit by trees, electrocuted or drowned.

Though less powerful than other typhoons this year, Phanphone made landfall in some of the country’s poorest and least-developed islands.

Among them was the island of Samar, which bore the brunt of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, the Philippines’ most powerful and deadliest storm on record. It killed more than 6,300 people.

Residents there were clearing debris, with wooden pillars and sheets of corrugated iron roof that were once homes, scattered across the ground. Men pulled tried to recover fishing boats with tangled or damaged outriggers.

The agriculture department estimated initial damages of 569 million pesos [$11.17 million] mostly to fish farms.