Philippines mops up after typhoon Bilis, 14 dead

Manila, Jul 14: The wake of typhoon Bilis swept away from the northern Philippines today after killing at least 14 people, causing dozens of minor landslides and flooding large areas of the main island of Luzon, disaster officials said.

Damage to property and agriculture appeared to be minimal after the storm hit the northeastern coast of Luzon on Tuesday but many parts of Ilocos, Cagayan and the Cordillera mountains were isolated by landslides and floods.

''Most of the casualties were drowning victims and those buried alive by landslides,'' said Gleen Rabonza, executive director of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, adding that more than 50,000 people were affected by the storm.

Fifteen people were injured and seven still missing.

Bilis weakened as it headed towards northern Taiwan with wind speeds up to 100 kph (62 mph).

Rabonza said the toll could rise as weather conditions improve and the disaster agency gets more reports from the field.

Schools in Manila and two other regions reopened on Friday as flood waters receded and power was restored in some provinces.

Agriculture officials estimated damage to rice and corn crops would reach about 9 million pesos (2,000).

Typhoons and tropical storms regularly hit the Philippines, an archipelago of about 7,000 islands. In the worst disaster in recent years, more than 5,000 people died in central Leyte island in 1991 during floods triggered by a typhoon.

In 2004, a series of storms left about 1,800 people dead or missing, including 480 who were killed when mudslides buried three towns in Quezon, an eastern province. In February, more than 1,000 people were buried by landslides on Leyte island.

REUTERS