‘Queenie’ leaves 1 dead

The weather bureau lowered all storm signals yesterday as typhoon "Queenie" roared toward Vietnam, leaving one dead and eight others injured and toppling trees and triggering floods and landslides in the northeastern part of the country.

As of 10 a.m. yesterday, "Queenie" was located about 250 kilometers west of Iba, Zambales, packing maximum winds of 120 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 150 kph and moving at 19 kph westward, said the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

"Queenie," the 17th typhoon to hit the country this year, is expected to gain strength as it heads toward central Vietnam.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said a man, apparently drunk, drowned in a swollen creek after he fell off a bamboo bridge in Casiguran, Aurora last Saturday.

Three people were missing after they were swept away by floodwaters and eight others were injured by fallen trees in Casiguran, which bore the brunt of the typhoon when it made a landfall early Saturday with maximum winds of 195 kph.

The typhoon sliced through Central Luzon after losing some of its energy when it hit the Sierra Madre mountains.

Landslides, overflowing rivers, toppled trees and powerlines blocked several roads to Casiguran and Dinapigue town in nearby Isabela. Strong winds destroyed two houses and damaged a dozen others in Casiguran.

The OCD said most of the floodwaters in the area receded early yesterday, but some rice crops were damaged in San Jose City in Nueva Ecija where some farms were submerged under about 1.2 meters of water.

Many of the areas had suffered damage late last month when typhoon "Paeng" slammed the same region, leaving 19 people dead in flash floods and landslides.

It came on the heels of typhoon "Milenyo," which left 230 people dead and missing in late September. — Helen Flores, James Mananghaya