Huge waves strike central Philippine villages

MANILA, Aug 12 (Reuters) Heavy rains, strong winds and huge waves, boosted by the southwest monsoon, damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 shacks in the central Philippines, disaster and local officials said today.

Disaster officials said nearly 60,000 people in Negros Occidental province were displaced when waves as high as 3 metres smashed into coastal villages.

''We've never seen such waves in our entire lives,'' Ricardo Presbiterio, mayor of Valladolid town, told Reuters.

''The waves even reached about 50 metres inland, flooding the coastal areas due to heavy rains and high tide.'' Presbiterio said the coastal villages were struck twice by the huge waves on late Wednesday and Thursday during high tide and the full moon.

''The local meteorologists told us the waves were caused by several factors, including the rains and winds induced by the monsoon, the occurence of high tide and the gravitational pull of the full moon,'' Presbiterio said.

REUTERS AB PM1726