Typhoon Co-may lashes northern Philippines, 25 dead and 278,000 evacuated

A tropical storm was blowing across the Philippines mountainous north Friday worsening more than a week of bad weather that has caused at least 25 deaths and prompted evacuations in villages affected by flooding and landslidesThe storm was Typhoon Comay when it made landfall Thursday night in the town of Agno in Pangasinan province with maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 165 kph It was weakening as it advanced northeastward and had sustained winds of 100 kph on Friday morningComay was intensifying seasonal monsoon rains that had swamped a large swath of the country for more than a weekDisasterresponse officials have received reports of at least 25 deaths since last weekend mostly due to flash floods toppled trees landslides and electrocution Eight other people were reported missingThere were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries directly caused by Comay locally called Emong the fifth weather disturbance to hit the Philippines since the rainy season started in last month More than a dozen more tropical storms were expected to batter the Southeast Asian country the rest of the year forecasters saidThe government shut down schools in metropolitan Manila for the third day Friday and suspended classes in 35 provinces in the main northern region of Luzon At least 77 towns and cities mostly in Luzon have declared a state of calamity a designation that speeds emergency funds and freezes the prices of commodities including riceThe days of stormy weather have forced 278000 people to leave their homes for safety in emergency shelters or relatives homes Nearly 3000 houses have been damaged the governments disaster response agency saidTravel by sea and air has been restricted in northern provinces being pounded by the typhoonThousands of army forces police coast guard personnel firefighters and civilian volunteers have been deployed to help rescue people in villages swamped in floodwaters or isolated due to roads blocked by landslides fallen trees and bouldersAfter returning from his White House meeting with US President Donald Trump President Ferdinand Marcos Jr visited emergency shelters Thursday in Rizal province to help distribute food packs to displaced residentsHe later convened an emergency meeting with disasterresponse officials where he underscored the need for the government and the people to adapt to and brace for climate change and the larger number of and more unpredictable natural calamities its setting off Everything has changed Marcos said Lets not say The storm may come what will happen because the storm will really comeThe United States Manilas longtime treaty ally has pledged to provide military aircraft to airlift food and other aid to remote island provinces and the countryside if the calamity worsens the Philippines military saidThe Philippines which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year Its often hit by earthquakes and has about two dozen active volcanoes making it one of the worlds most disasterprone countriesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever