Thousands flee as typhoon flogs Philippines
Typhoon Sarika lashed the main Philippine island of Luzon on Sunday, ripping off roofs, toppling power pylons and forcing more than 12,000 people to flee to safer ground, officials said.
Minor landslides and flooding were also reported a day after the cyclone brushed past a remote island and left one person drowned and three others missing, they said.
"The roofs of some house were blown away and power was cut in some areas," Mina Marasigan, spokeswoman for the government's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, told AFP.
However, she said it was too early to say if Luzon had escaped any casualties, with local governments still assessing the extent of the damage in their areas.
Government crews and utility workers immediately went to work clearing roads buried by landslides, toppled trees and posts and other debris while some towns began sending people in shelters back to their homes as the danger passed, officials said.
The disaster agency said nearly 12,500 people had left their homes shortly before Sarika struck, seeking refuge in government-run shelters and relatives' homes.
Eleven people were rescued after a boat capsized off the eastern island of Samar on Friday, while about 1,000 boats and 6,500 passengers were stranded at ports as the coast guard barred smaller vessels from putting to sea.
The disaster agency said 290 commercial flights, including 63 to international destinations, were cancelled due to bad weather.
The weather service has meanwhile warned the nation to brace for a second storm, with Typhoon Haima expected to strike the same area as early as Thursday.