Typhoon Bopha: Philippines death toll climbs

Typhoon Bopha: Philippines death toll climbs

Hundreds dead or missing across south of country after 170,000 flee homes

A powerful typhoon that washed away emergency shelters, a military camp and possibly entire families in the southern Philippines has killed almost 350 people with nearly 400 missing, authorities said on Thursday.

More bodies were retrieved from hardest-hit Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces and six others affected by Tuesday's storm, the Office of Civil Defence said.

At least 200 of the victims died in Compostela Valley alone, including 78 villagers and soldiers who perished in a flash flood that swamped two emergency shelters and a military camp.

"Entire families may have been washed away," said the interior secretary, Mar Roxas, who visited New Bataan on Wednesday. The farming town of 45,000 people was a muddy wasteland of collapsed houses and coconut and banana trees felled by ferocious winds.

Dionisia Requinto, 43, felt lucky to have survived with her husband and their eight children by scrambling up a nearby hill to escape the waters. "The water rose so fast," she said. "It was horrible. I thought it was going to be our end."

In nearby Davao Oriental, the coastal province first struck by typhoon Bopha as it blew from the Pacific Ocean, at least 115 people perished.

"We had a problem where to take the evacuees. All the evacuation centres have lost their roofs," said the Davao Oriental governor, Corazon Malanyaon.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies issued an urgent appeal for $4.8m to help people directly affected by the typhoon.

The sun shined brightly for most of the day Wednesday, giving residents time to gather themselves, clean up and make repairs. But as night fell rain started pouring again over New Bataan, triggering panic among some residents who feared a repeat of the previous day's flash floods.

After hitting Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley, Bopha roared quickly across the southern Mindanao and central regions, knocking out power in two entire provinces, triggering landslides and leaving houses and plantations damaged. More than 170,000 fled to evacuation centres.

The typhoon has moved into the South China Sea west of Palawan province, blowing north-westward and could be headed to Vietnam or southern China, according to government forecasters.

About 20 typhoons and storms lash the northern and central Philippines each year but they rarely hit the vast southern Mindanao region, which made it harder for the government to get residents to evacuate. A rare storm in the south last December killed more than 1,200 people and left many more homeless.