Deadly Typhoon kills more than 250 in southern Philippines

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More than 250 people were killed and almost twice that number were missing after a typhoon hit the southern Philippines, officials said Saturday, triggering flash floods and landslides and forcing tens of thousands from their homes. Typhoon Washi, with winds gusting up to 90km/h (56 mph), hit the resource-rich island of Mindanao late Friday, bringing heavy rain that also grounded some domestic flights and left wide areas without power. The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) said 256 people were killed in flash floods in Mindanao and another island. Soldiers and police were recovering more bodies washed ashore in nearby towns. "The death toll might still rise because there are still a lot of missing people," said Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the PNRC. She said the hardest-hit areas were in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro. Almost 400 people were unaccounted for, most of them from a coastal village in Iligan. Houses were swept into the sea by floodwaters while people were sleeping inside late Friday. The latest Red Cross figures put the death toll in Iligan at 144. Another 86 were killed in Cagayan de Oro, many of them children.

More than 250 people were killed and almost twice that number were missing after a typhoon hit the southern Philippines, officials said Saturday, triggering flash floods and landslides and forcing tens of thousands from their homes.

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Typhoon Washi, with winds gusting up to 90km/h (56 mph), hit the resource-rich island of Mindanao late Friday, bringing heavy rain that also grounded some domestic flights and left wide areas without power.

The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) said 256 people were killed in flash floods in Mindanao and another island. Soldiers and police were recovering more bodies washed ashore in nearby towns.

"The death toll might still rise because there are still a lot of missing people," said Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the PNRC.

She said the hardest-hit areas were in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

Almost 400 people were unaccounted for, most of them from a coastal village in Iligan. Houses were swept into the sea by floodwaters while people were sleeping inside late Friday.

The latest Red Cross figures put the death toll in Iligan at 144. Another 86 were killed in Cagayan de Oro, many of them children.

Five miners were killed in a landslide in Monkayo on Mindanao and another 21 people drowned on the central island of Negros, the PNRC said.

The national disaster agency put the death toll at 131, but other government officials also said at least 256 people had been killed.

The Philippines social welfare department said about 100,000 people were displaced and brought to more than a dozen shelters in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

Army spokesman Colonel Leopoldo Galon said search and rescue operations would continue along the shorelines in Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte provinces.

"I can't explain how these things happened, entire villages were swept to the sea by flash floods," Galon said.

"I have not seen anything like this before. This could be worse than Ondoy," he said, referring to a 2009 storm that inundated the capital, Manila, killing hundreds of people.

Weather map credit: westernpacificweather.com

Article continues: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/17/us-philippines-weather-idUSTRE7BG09G20111217