Toll could rise as internet and mobile phone networks are still cut off in some badly damaged areas

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

A typhoon that ripped across central Philippines on Christmas Day, uprooting houses, wreaking havoc in popular tourist areas and devastating festive celebrations, has killed 28 people and left at least another 12 missing.

Typhoon Phanfone, known locally as Typhoon Ursula, slammed into Eastern Samar province on Christmas Eve.

The storm tore roofs off houses and toppled electric posts with winds of 195km (120 miles) per hour as it cut across the cluster of islands of the Eastern Visayas region, southern Luzon and Western Visayas on Christmas Day.

Several islands were severely flooded, houses were torn apart and washed away and trees were blown down, while disaster agencies reported that many major roads had become impassable.

Areas across the archipelago battered by the storm, which made seven landfalls, included Boracay, Coron and other islands popular with tourists because of their paradise beaches. The airport at Kalibo, which services Boracay island, was badly damaged in the storm and temporarily closed.

On Thursday afternoon the province of Leyte was placed under a state of calamity due to the trail of destruction left by the typhoon.

“We are a mixture of feelings right now,” said Carlo Petilla Loreto, vice-governor of Leyte. “We’re supposed to be festive because it’s Christmas but at the same time we feel for those affected by Typhoon Ursula.”

Cindy Ferrer, head of the regional office of civil defence, described the battered coastal area of Batad in Iloilo province as looking like a “ghost town” on Christmas Day.

With the internet and mobile phone networks still cut off in some badly damaged areas, a full assessment of Phanfone’s damage was not immediately possible.

But at least 16 people had been confirmed killed in villages and towns in the Visayas, the central third of the Philippines, according to disaster agency officials.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Residents walk past a house damaged during Typhoon Phanfone in Tacloban. Photograph: Bobbie Alota/AFP via Getty Images

The Western Visayas regional disaster risk reduction and management council (RDRRMC) reported 13 deaths due to the typhoon, while the civil defence office reported three more. The office said it was verifying other reported fatalities but at least six more people have been reported missing.

Among the dead are said to be a 70-year-old man, Carlos Yu Beltran, who drowned when his house was swept away and a family, including three children, who were killed when they were swept away by a flash flood as they attempted to get to higher ground, the Philippine ABS-CBN network reported.

A 13-year-old died from electrocution caused by storm damage and a police officer died when he was electrocuted by a toppled electric post while patrolling. Five fishermen have also been reported missing.

Korean tourist Jung Byung Joon described the extent of the damage at Kalibo airport. “It’s pretty bad,” he said. “Everything within 100 metres of the airport looks broken. There are a lot of frustrated people as flights have been cancelled.

“Taxis are still running but it’s windy and still raining so no one wants to leave the airport, including me.”

Though much weaker, Phanfone tracked a similar path as “super typhoon” Haiyan, the country’s deadliest storm on record which left more than 7,300 people dead or missing in 2013.

“It’s like the younger sibling of Haiyan. It’s less destructive, but it followed a similar path,” said Ferrer.

A total of 58,400 people were pre-emptively evacuated ahead of the typhoon. Tens of thousands of people in the mostly Catholic nation were forced to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in temporary evacuation shelters at school gymnasiums and bus terminals.

Many were not able to return to their families, with ferries and plane services suspended. A total of 115 domestic flights were cancelled, the Manila International Airport Authority reported, stranding almost 16,000 passengers, while the Philippine coast guard said that around 25,000 people were stuck in ferry ports across the region.

Pope Francis offered his sympathies saying: “I join in the pain that affected the dear people of the Philippines because of the Typhoon Phanfone. I pray for the numerous victims, for the injured and for their families.”

On Thursday Phanfone headed out towards the South China Sea, though it is expected to weaken as it moves westward towards the northern coast of Vietnam.

As the first major landmass facing the Pacific typhoon belt, the Philippines is prone to devastating natural disasters and records around 20 major storms per year.