Philippines smashed by typhoon

Typhoon Kammuri swept through the Philippines on Tuesday, ripping rooftops from houses, knocking down power lines and leaving over half a million people huddled in evacuation centres, waiting for the storm to pass. At least one person was killed.

Manila airport was ordered shut for 12 hours and nearly 500 flights were cancelled. Officials suspended marine traffic in affected areas as Kammuri, packing wind gusts as high as 150 miles per hour, battered the Philippine archipelago for a second day.

In Albay, a province in south-eastern Luzon, the largest and most populous Philippine island, Gov. Al Francis Bichara said the fierce winds caused more damage than the rain.

“Right now there’s no electricity, the cables had fallen, but it’s calm now,” he said, speaking to a Manila radio station.

The army, the police force and emergency service workers were helping clear roads of debris, said Claudio Yucot, a regional director for civil defence.

A man who was preparing his home for the storm was electrocuted and died when a damaged wire touched his galvanized metal roof, the Philippine National Police said.

Across the archipelago, officials said the evacuations of hundreds of thousands of people from exposed areas had lessened the impact of the storm on civilians.

Still, the authorities warned of storm surges up to three feet and floods and landslides from the wind and rain in the mountainous countryside.