Storm leaves at least two people dead and causes massive disruption and power cuts in nine provinces before slowing down

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Typhoon Koppu has weakened after blowing ashore in the north-eastern Philippines, but not before it left at least two people dead, displaced 16,000 villagers and knocked out power in entire provinces, officials said.

Troops and police officers were deployed to rescue residents trapped in flooded villages in the provinces of Aurora, where the typhoon made landfall early on Sunday, and Nueva Ecija, where floodwaters swamped rice farmlands during harvest.

After slamming into the town of Casiguran after midnight on Saturday, the typhoon weakened and slowed down, hemmed in by the Sierra Madre mountain range and a high pressure area in the country’s north, and another typhoon far out in the Pacific, said Gladys Saludes of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

Howling winds knocked down trees and electricity posts, leaving nine provinces without power, while floods and small landslides made 25 roads and bridges impassable. Authorities suspended dozens of flights and sea voyages, and many schools cancelled Monday classes.



Late on Sunday night, the typhoon was blowing over the northern mountainous province of Ifugao and was continuing to weaken, blowing northward at just 3 mph, according to Pagasa. It’s expected to weaken to a tropical storm by late Monday and exit the main northern island of Luzon on Wednesday.

While weather conditions had begun to improve in some towns, and villagers had started to clear roads of fallen trees and debris, Koppu was still fierce enough to set off landslides and flash floods, officials said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Strong winds hit Manila on Sunday. Photograph: Marlo Cueto/Demotix/Corbis

“We’re asking our countrymen not to become complacent,” said Alexander Pama, who heads the government’s disaster-response agency, citing how rainwater could cascade down mountainsides and flood villages after Koppu passed.

That happened in low-lying villages in six towns in Nueva Ecija, where some residents were trapped by floodwaters, said Nigel Lontoc of the Office of Civil Defence.

A teenager was killed by a fallen tree, which also injured four people and damaged three houses in a Manila suburb on Sunday. In Subic, north-west of Manila, a concrete wall collapsed and killed a 62-year-old woman, injuring her husband.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Soldiers clear debris in Nueva Ecija province on Sunday. Photograph: Francis Malasig/EPA

Three fishermen who had gone missing at sea were rescued off Bataan province, and three other missing people were found in an evacuation camp in Baler, Lontoc said.

President Benigno Aquino and disaster-response agencies had warned that Koppu’s rain and winds may bring more damage with its slow speed. But Saludes said there was less heavy rain than expected.

Koppu, Japanese for “cup”, is the 12th storm to hit the Philippines this year. An average of 20 storms and typhoons each year batter the archipelago, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most ferocious storms on record to hit land, barrelled through the central Philippines, levelling entire towns and leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing.