Typhoon claims at least seven lives in the Philippines and leaves thousands homeless

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A typhoon has finally moved away from the Philippines, killing at least seven people, most of them from flooding and fallen trees. Several seaports had to be closed and thousands of passengers were stranded, officials said Tuesday.

Typhoon Ewiniar passed the country’s east coast late Friday night and lingered over the Philippine islands for several days before moving northeastward away from the archipelago. All storm warnings were lifted on Tuesday.

The typhoon’s change in direction spared the densely populated capital Manila from a potentially devastating hit.

Ewiniar, known locally as Aghon, was last tracked on Tuesday about 450 kilometers east of the northern city of Basco in Batanes province with sustained winds of 130 kph and gusts of up to 160 kph, government meteorologists said.

At least six villagers drowned in the floodwaters or died when they were hit by falling trees during the sudden flooding in hard-hit Quezon province, provincial police said. In the southern province of Misamis Oriental, a villager died when a tree fell and hit a motorcycle taxi she was riding with her sister on their way to school, police said.

Many villages were hit by flash floods. In Lucena, the capital of Quezon province, some low-lying areas were submerged in water up to 2.4 meters. The flooding was partly due to clogged sewage systems after a particularly hot summer, said Quezon Governor Angelina Tan and other provincial officials.

Tan said many houses, including the governor’s residence, were damaged by strong winds and torrential rains. The typhoon forced her to seek shelter elsewhere while she oversaw the distribution of food and other relief items to displaced villagers, she said.

Before flying to Brunei on a state visit on Tuesday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said more than 26,700 people had been affected by the typhoon, including many who had fled to evacuation centers in five provincial regions. Three airports and 29 seaports could not operate normally due to the typhoon, while six cities and towns were affected by power outages, he said.

More than 4,800 passengers, truck drivers and cargo workers were temporarily stranded due to the closure of seaports as the typhoon ravaged southern and central provinces, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

“Even before the typhoon, we transported relief supplies to locations near the expected typhoon path so that everything was ready,” Marcos said.

The Philippine archipelago is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms every year and is located in an Asian region frequently affected by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.

In 2013, one of the most powerful typhoons on record, Haiyan, left over 7,300 people dead or missing, entire villages razed to the ground, ships driven inland, and over 5 million people in the central Philippines displaced.