MANILA, Dec 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The number of deaths from a powerful
storm that hit the Philippines on Christmas has climbed to 41, authorities
said Sunday, with tens of thousands still in evacuation centres.
Typhoon Phanfone left the Philippines on Saturday after devastating
several islands in the central Visayas, including popular tourist
destinations, but the extent of the damage continued to grow as assessments
came in.
The death toll of 41 — up from 28 on Friday — included three boat crew
who died after their vessel capsized due to strong winds, a policeman
electrocuted by a toppled post, and a man struck by a felled tree.
“We’re hoping that there will be no more fatalities,” national disaster
agency spokesman Mark Timbal told AFP, with authorities still searching for
12 people missing.
The latest agency report showed over 1.6 million people were affected by
the typhoon, which damaged over 260,000 houses and forced almost a hundred
thousand people to flee to emergency shelters.
Many of the affected residents in the predominantly Catholic nation
celebrated Christmas in evacuation centres, where they may have to stay until
the New Year given the scale of destruction.
The government estimated that the storm has caused damage to agriculture
and infrastructure worth $21 million.
Power lines and internet connections remain down in some areas after
Phanfone’s powerful wind gusts of up to 200 kilometres (124 miles) per hour
toppled electric posts and trees.
Typhoon Phanfone, locally called Ursula, is the 21st cyclone to hit the
storm-prone Philippines, which is the first major landmass facing the Pacific
typhoon belt.
Many of the storms are deadly, and they typically wipe out harvests, homes
and infrastructure, keeping millions of people perennially poor.