Typhoon Xangsane pounds Philippine capital

MANILA, Sep 28 (Reuters) Typhoon Xangsane lashed the Philippine capital today, grounding flights, halting vessels and closing schools and offices after triggering flash floods and blackouts across the centre of the country.

The fiercest storm to strike the Philippines this year crashed into its central islands yesterday, stranding over 4,000 ferry passengers and sweeping away houses in raging waters up to five-foot deep in places.

Six provinces in the Bicol region, famed for its coconut plantations, were left without electricity as high winds toppled power lines.

Rescue efforts were hampered by debris and trees blocking roads as Xangsane, with gusts of up to 160 km per hour, churned northwest towards Manila.

''It's like waking up from a nightmare,'' office of civil defense chief for the Bicol region, Arnel Capili, told a radio station. ''The first thing is to clear the national highway leading to Manila.'' In the sprawling capital, home to 12 million people, classes were cancelled and offices were largely empty as sheets of rain and howling winds lashed the streets, tearing down billboards and lamp posts in places.

All international and local flights and sea travel in and out of Manila were cancelled as the city prepared for Xangsane to drive through before noon. The storm is the first typhoon to cross the city since 1995.

Some slum dwellers in the capital were evacuated from their rickety shacks while residents of plush, gated communities locked down windows and doors. Lights flickered in many buildings.

Government offices were closed and local trading in the peso and shares was cancelled.

DAMAGE Forecasters warned residents not to be fooled by the calm centre or eye of the typhoon, which is expected to pass over Manila.

''The public might think the storm is over and they can go outside their houses and fix whatever needs fixing,'' Nathaniel Cruz, chief forecaster, told local radio.

''Do not do that because once the eye of the storm passes we will experience strong winds again that may continue to cause damage to our properties or even lives.'' Cruz said if Xangsane kept up its current speed there would be an improvement in weather conditions from tomorrow afternoon.

The typhoon is expected to hit the Vietnamese coastline late on Sunday.

Residents living in at least 10 towns near the foot of Mayon volcano in the central province of Albay were urged to evacuate their homes due to the danger of winds whipping up mud flows.

Xangsane is the 13th typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, disaster officials said.

Tropical storms regularly hit the 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 in floods triggered by a typhoon.

In 2004, about 1,800 people were killed or went missing in a series of storms. The toll included 480 who were killed when mudslides hit three towns in Quezon, an eastern province.

REUTERS SAM HS1136