MANILA • At least 33 people were killed in the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, official tallies showed yesterday, with dozens more missing.
The latest figures come after a disaster official in the central province of Negros Occidental confirmed that 13 people had died, most by drowning, and that 50 were missing in a flood-hit area.
"We started urging people to evacuate as early as Wednesday but many were reluctant to leave," Mr Salvador Mesa told Agence France-Presse.
More than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Typhoon Rai ravaged the southern and central regions of the archipelago, knocking out communications and electricity in many areas, ripping off roofs and toppling concrete power poles.
Rai was a super typhoon when it smashed into the tourist island of Siargao last Thursday, packing sustained winds of 195kmh.
Aerial photos shared by the military showed widespread damage in the town of General Luna, where many surfers and holidaymakers had flocked ahead of Christmas.
The neighbouring island of Dinagat had been "levelled to the ground" by the storm, Governor Arlene Bag-ao wrote on Facebook, saying houses, boats and fields were destroyed.
"Walls and roofs were torn and blown off by Odette like paper," Ms Bag-ao said, using the local name for the typhoon. "We have a dwindling supply of food and water. Electricity and telecommunications are down."
Rai's wind speeds eased to 150kmh as it barrelled across the country, dumping torrential rain that flooded villages, uprooting trees and shattering wooden structures. It emerged over the South China Sea yesterday and was headed towards Vietnam, the state weather forecaster said.
"This is indeed one of the most powerful storms that has hit the Philippines in the month of December in the last decade," Mr Alberto Bocanegra, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Philippines, said.
"The information we are receiving and the pictures we are receiving are very alarming."
More than 18,000 military, police, coast guard and fire personnel will join search and rescue efforts in the worst-affected regions, Mr Mark Timbal, spokesman for the national disaster agency, told AFP.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year, which typically wipe out harvests, homes and infrastructure in already impoverished areas.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
