MANILA, Dec 18, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - The death toll from the strongest typhoon
to hit the Philippines this year has risen to 18 as the disaster agency
warned Saturday of "severe damage" in the hardest-hit areas.

   More than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as
Typhoon Rai ravaged the southern and central regions of the country, knocking
out communications in many areas and toppling concrete power poles.

   Rai was a super typhoon when it smashed into the popular tourist island of
Siargao on Thursday, packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometres per
hour (120 miles per hour).

   Its wind speeds eased to 150 kph as it barrelled across the archipelago,
ripping roofs off houses, uprooting trees and littering streets with debris.

   More than 18,000 military, police, coast guard and fire personnel will
join search and rescue efforts in the worst-affected regions, Mark Timbal,
spokesman for the national disaster agency, told AFP.

   "There has been severe damage" in Surigao and Siargao, Timbal said,
referring to the areas that bore the brunt of the typhoon.

   Communications were still down in Siargao and in the nearby city of
Surigao, which is on the northern tip of the southern island of Mindanao.

   Philippine Coast Guard has shared photos on social media showing
widespread destruction around Surigao, with roofs torn off buildings, wooden
structures shattered and palm trees stripped of fronds.

   Aerial footage showed swathes of rice fields under water.

   Dinagat Vice Governor Nilo Demerey told broadcaster ABS-CBN the storm
devastated the island near Siargao and left at least six people dead.

   That takes the overall death toll to 18, with the disaster agency also
reporting seven missing and two injured.

   "Odette was so strong," Demerey said, using the local name for the
typhoon.

   Residents "are trying to repair their houses because even our evacuation
centres were torn down. They can't seek refuge anywhere else... everything
was destroyed."

   After lashing Palawan island, Rai emerged over the South China Sea on
Saturday and was headed towards Vietnam, the state weather forecaster said.

   Rai hit the Philippines late in the typhoon season -- most cyclones
typically develop between July and October.

   Scientists have long warned that typhoons are becoming more powerful and
strengthening more rapidly as the world becomes warmer because of human-
driven climate change.

   The Philippines -- ranked as one of the world's most vulnerable countries
to the impacts of climate change -- is hit by an average of 20 storms and
typhoons every year, which typically wipe out harvests, homes and
infrastructure in already impoverished areas.