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Philippines: Typhoon Utor displaces thousands
August 14, 2013, 2:09 am

Philippines is routinely hit by typhoons. At least 20 such storms are expected to hit the island in 2013 [Xinhua]

Philippines is routinely hit by typhoons. At least 20 such storms are expected to hit the island in 2013 [Xinhua]

Typhoon Utor (also known as Labuyo), the second strongest storm to hit the northern Philippines this year, has killed six and displaced nearly 100,000 people due to heavy rains and flooding.

At press time, at least 44 people were reported missing. Among the missing are a number of fishermen who were hit by three-metre waves triggered by the typhoon.

The storm, which hit the island on Monday with winds reaching 210 kilometres per hour, has already caused nearly $1.6 million worth of damage to property and crops, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

“Trees have fallen down, roofs have been torn off houses, electric poles and electric towers have collapsed,” the NDRRMC’s Reynaldo Balido told the media.

Balido said that relief efforts were ongoing to clear roads and downed power lines leading to the three towns of Dilasag, Casiguran and Dinalungan, which at press time were inaccessible.

Utor is expected to move across the South China Sea and hit China’s Guangdong province on Wednesday night. According to state media Xinhua, China’s maritime authority on Tuesday has already issued the second-highest weather alert warning.

Source: Agencies