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MANILA - Five people were killed as Typhoon Nuri slammed into the northern Philippines Wednesday, triggering heavy rain and warnings of possible storm surges, officials said.
Packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometres an hour at the centre and gusts of up to 170 kilometres per hour, at 4:00 pm (0800 GMT) Nuri was 90 kilometres northwest of the northern province of Cagayan, moving northwest at 15 kilometres per hour.
"It has made landfall. She is lashing northern Luzon," said Nathaniel Cruz, chief forecaster at the state weather bureau.
"Almost all of northern Luzon is experiencing the fury of Karen," Cruz said, referring to the local name of Typhoon Nuri.
Five people including a 72-year-old woman and three children were killed when landslides crushed their houses in the northern regions while a farmer was missing after being washed away by an overflowing river in Ilocos province, the civil defence office reported.
Large parts of Luzon island were drenched by heavy rain, including Manila and nearby suburbs, and schools called off classes in some affected provinces,
disaster relief officials said.
"We are prepared. We are not just looking at rain and strong winds, we are also looking at storm surges and strong waves in coastal areas," said Anthony Golez, deputy administrator of the National Disaster Coordinating Council.
Golez said provincial capitals in Luzon had been forewarned about Nuri and that contingency plans were in place.
The general manager of the Metro Manila Development Authority, Roberto
Nacianceno, said there was some minor flooding in the capital.
Rivers were also close to overflowing in provinces north of Manila, prompting the government to warn residents to take precautions. There were no reports of evacuations.
Nuri was expected to keep moving northwards closer to Hong Kong where there were fears the storm could affect the Olympic showjumping final scheduled for Thursday evening.
The Hong Kong Observatory said Typhoon Nuri would move towards southern China, bringing wind and thunderstorms over the next couple of days, although it was not forecast to hit the city if it remained on its current course.
Chinese authorities issued a level-two disaster control emergency response for Nuri, which was expected to make landfall on southeastern coastal areas on Friday or Saturday.
The Philippines is battered by an average of 20 typhoons a year, some of them devastating.
Nuri is the 12th to hit the archipelago this year.
In June, a ferry carrying more than 800 people sailed into the path of Typhoon Fengshen and sank in the central Philippines. There were only 57 survivors and the bodies of many of those who perished remain trapped inside the hull of the ferry.
- AFP/ir
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