Typhoon Goni batters Philippines; 4 dead

MANILA: Landslides and floods triggered by heavy rains from a powerful typhoon pummeling the northern Philippines left at least four dead Friday, including a 10-year-old boy, officials said.
Government forecaster Adzar Aurelio said Typhoon Goni was still at sea on Friday afternoon about 100 km east of northern Calayan Island, with maximum sustained winds of 170 km and gusts of up to 205 kph. The typhoon may pass over the tiny islands at the country’s northern tip.
A landslide in northern Mountain province killed a 10-year-old boy and injured his 9-year-old brother, said civil defense official Andrew Alex Uy. In the highland town of Itogon, two construction workers died after a landslide buried their roadside tent in rocks and mud. Close to 400 people in flood-prone towns were moved to shelters, police and disaster officials said.
In the adjacent province of Benguet, two brothers died in another landslide while seeking temporary shelter in Bakun town, he added. Other deaths included a man who was pinned by a tree, while two are missing in strong river currents. Several flights and ferry trips have been canceled. In Taiwan, 1,700 tourists were evacuated from the outlying Green and Orchid islands as early as Thursday while offices were shut on Friday.
Goni was forecast to graze the Batanes islands off the Philippines’ northern tip on Saturday morning on its way to Taiwan, according to the Filipino weather bureau.
The storm, the seventh to enter the Philippines this year, packs maximum sustained winds of 170 km per hour with gusts of up to 205 km per hour, it said. The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 typhoons a year, many of them deadly.
Taiwan, meanwhile, is still reeling from typhoon Soudelor, which left 12 people dead or missing and caused widespread damage when it hit two weeks ago. In the mountainous hot spring town of Wulai just south of the capital Taipei 100 people have not returned to their homes as roads are still blocked with mud.
“Temporary supplies of water, electricity and phone cables set up after Typhoon Soudelor could be interrupted again if Typhoon Goni introduces torrential rains to that area,” said Chiang Chien-ming, chief road engineer for the highway authorities.
Authorities plan to deploy excavators and bulldozers to Wulai while local business have cleared drainage ditches as they prepare for the typhoon.
A senior official from Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau told AFP that Goni could bring rains of up to 200 mm to the east coast and mountain areas in the north.