More than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Typhoon Rai pummelled the southern and central regions of the Philippines, knocking out communications in some areas, tearing roofs off buildings and leaving at least 12 people dead.
At least 12 people have died in the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, the disaster agency said on Friday, after the storm swept across the archipelago uprooting trees, toppling power poles and flooding villages.
"We are seeing people walking in the streets, many of them shell-shocked," ABS-CBN correspondent Dennis Datu reported from the hard-hit city of Surigao, which is on the northern tip of Mindanao and near Siargao. More than 300,000 people had sought emergency shelter as the typhoon charged across the Pacific Ocean and smashed into the country, the agency said. About 18,000 had yet to return home.
Surigao City Mayor Ernesto Matugas told ABS-CBN that Rai ravaged the city of around 170,000 people for several hours, causing "severe" damage."Everything sustained damage — roofs blown off, access roads blocked by landslides." Scores of flights were cancelled across the country and dozens of ports temporarily closed as the weather bureau warned several-metres-high storm surges could cause "life-threatening flooding" in low-lying coastal areas.
Some wooden houses in the coastal town of Dulag in Leyte province were destroyed, while uprooted coconut trees lay on the beach.
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