Typhoon Noru, the most powerful on record in the Philippines this year, has killed six people, authorities announced Monday. Five rescuers died during their passage, while they were in a flooded town.
“They had been deployed by the provincial government in a flooded area” in Santa Maria, said Lt. Col. Romualdo Andres, police chief of the San Miguel municipality, near Manila.
According to Romualdo Andrés, the rescuers were wading through the flood waters when a wall collapsed on them, throwing them into the fast-flowing stream.
The sixth victim, an elderly man, died after being swept away by a landslide in the municipality of Bordeaux, in the Polillo Islands, in the province of Quezon, where the typhoon made landfall, reported Garner Jiménez, of the local Civil Defense Office.
Winds at 195 km / h for the most powerful typhoon of the year
On Sunday, Noru inflicted strong winds and heavy rain on the densely populated main island of Luzon. The typhoon made landfall at 5:30 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. Paris time) in the Bordeaux municipality of the Polillo Islands, which is part of Quezon province.
Accompanied by winds of 195 km/h, it is the most powerful typhoon recorded this year in the country.
Nearly 75,000 people were evacuated ahead of the storm and weather services warned of the risk of major flooding in vulnerable parts of the country. Since then, residents of the Bulacan province in the Philippines have had trouble moving their belongings and livestock to higher ground.
No significant damage has been identified at this time
The municipality of Bordeaux was particularly affected. Fierce winds ripped off roofs and toppled tall trees, while heavy rains flooded homes along the river, said Ervin Calleja, a 49-year-old teacher.
“It was really worrying,” he said by phone.
But no major damage was identified on Monday. “You might think we’ve done too much,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said during a briefing. “There’s nothing like overdoing it when it comes to disasters,” he added.
Source: BFM TV
