The content you're looking for is no longer available.</s>ILAGAN, Philippines: One of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the Philippines killed at least four people as it destroyed houses, tore roofs off schools and uprooted giant trees yesterday.

Super Typhoon Haima struck late on Wednesday night with winds similar to those of catastrophic Haiyan in 2013, which was then the strongest storm to strike the disaster-prone Southeast Asian archipelago and claimed more than 7,350 lives.

Haima then roared across mountain and farming communities of the northern regions of the main island of Luzon overnight, causing widespread destruction and killing at least four people who were buried by landslides, authorities said.

“The winds were so strong. They blew away our roof,” said Crecy Ramos, 46, a street stall owner in Ilagan, one of the main northern cities with a population of 130,000 people, as she started to repair her ramshackle home yesterday afternoon.

“Everyone in our community had their roofs blown away.” Haima hit coastal towns facing the Pacific Ocean with sustained winds of 225 kilometres an hour, and wind gusts of up to 315 kilometres. It weakened overnight as it rammed into giant mountain ranges and by yesterday morning had passed over the western edge of Luzon and into the South China Sea, heading towards southern China.

Jefferson Soriano, mayor of Tuguegarao, the capital of Cagayan where Haima made landfall, reported badly damaged schools and gymnasiums where people had sought shelter.

“They are calling for help because the roofs have been torn off. The problem is, our rescuers here are unable to go out and help,” Soriano told DZMM radio before dawn while the storm was still raging.

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday night all possible preparations had been made for Haima, with tens of thousands of people evacuated, but he still struck an ominous tone.

“We only pray we be spared the destruction such as the previous times, which brought agony and suffering. But we are ready. Everything has been deployed,” Duterte said in Beijing, where he was on a state visit. About 10 million people across the northern parts of Luzon were at risk, the government’s disaster risk management council said on Wednesday.

Authorities said two of those killed, aged 16 and 17, were buried in a landslide while sleeping in a house in Ifugao, a mountainous area that is home to stunning stepped rice terraces that are listed by the United Nations as a World Heritage site. — AFP</s>The basic details of the proposed package are still under discussion. It requires of the United Nations a delicate diplomatic balance — weighing considerations of donors who will pay for it, and of victims who have been demanding justice. The official rollout of the package, expected in the coming....

(hide)</s>Haima hit Cagayan province on the northeastern end of the archipelago about 11 p.m. local time. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center downgraded it from a super typhoon before it made landfall.

Winds of 220 kilometers per hour (137 mph) had put it on par with a Category 4 hurricane, the center said. It's expected to affect as many as 2.7 million people in seven provinces before veering northwest toward the Chinese coast by Friday.

It is blasting the Philippines with strong winds and heavy rainfall that could trigger landslides in the mountainous region of the northern island of Luzon.

More than 60,000 people have already been affeted by the typhoon, as it traveled across the Philippines, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development , with almost 15,000 people in evacuation centers. Hundreds of thousands of food packs were ready to be deployed by the government early on Thursday morning. At its peak, Haima packed winds of up to 315 kilometers per hour (195 mph), the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale It is the third-strongest typhoon of the season, behind Nepartak and Meranti , both of which lashed Taiwan and China. The storm surge and winds near the center of Haima could be catastrophic. The storm will be much weaker by the time it heads toward China, though flooding could still occur. Typhoon Sarika has caused widespread damage across the Philippines after striking Sunday. According to data going back to 1950 from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, it will be just the third time back-to-back storms with an intensity of Category 4 or higher have hit the Philippines. At least three people were killed Sunday as Sarika crossed the archipelago north of Manila as a Category 4 storm. Almost 10,000 people were displaced, according to aid organization Care International. On Tuesday, that weather system made landfall on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, prompting the government to close schools in the island province and suspend high-speed rail services, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported. About 500,000 people were evacuated ahead of the storm, Xinhua reported.</s></s>The Hong Kong Observatory raised its typhoon 8 signal, one of its highest warnings which rate typhoons up to 10, as Haima crossed the northern part of the South China Sea after lashing the Philippines.

"According to the present forecast track, Haima will be closest to Hong Kong around noon, skirting about 100 km (62 miles) to the east of the territory," said the observatory on its website.

"This means that winds with mean speeds of 63 kmh (40 mph) or more are expected from the northwest quarter."

Flights and train services have been canceled going in and out of the city. When a typhoon 8 signal is in place businesses, government offices and schools stay closed, including banks, port operations and the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Haima strikes Hong Kong just as it recovers from a day of torrential rain on Wednesday that caused several minor landslides and localized flooding.</s>VIGAN, Philippines — At least five people were killed after Super Typhoon Haima smashed into the northern Philippines with ferocious winds and rains overnight, flooding towns and forcing thousands to flee before weakening Thursday and blowing into the South China Sea, officials said.

Haima's blinding winds and rain had rekindled fears and memories from the catastrophe wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, but there were no immediate reports of any major damage amid faulty communications and power outages in several villages cut off from government aid and rescue teams by fallen trees, landslide and flood.

Nearly 100,000 villagers were evacuated from high-risk communities as the typhoon approached, helping prevent a larger number of casualties.

Two construction workers died, however, when a landslide buried their shanty in La Trinidad town in the mountain province of Benguet, officials said, while two villagers drowned in floodwaters and another is missing in Ifugao province, near Benguet. A 70-year-old man died apparently of a heart attack while being brought to an emergency shelter from a flooded neighborhood in Isabela province, officials said.

Although storms are a part of life in the country's north, many villagers were still horrified by Haima's fury.

"In my age, I'm 60 years old, this is the strongest typhoon I have ever seen," village councilor Willie Cabalteja told The Associated Press in Vigan city in Ilocos Sur province. "We haven't slept. Trees were forced down, houses lost their roofs and fences and metal sheets were flying around all night."

The fast-moving Pacific typhoon slammed into shore in northeastern Cagayan province late Wednesday then barreled northwestward before blowing out into the South China Sea with sustained winds of 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 185 kph (115 mph), according to forecasters.

Although weakening, the typhoon was expected to blow toward China, Filipino forecasters said.

After dawn, the extent of damage in Cagayan — about 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Manila — and nearby regions became evident, with overturned vans, toppled or leaning electric posts and debris blocking roads. Most stores, their window panes shattered and canopies shredded by the wind, were close.

In northern Ilocos Sur province, ricefields resembled brown lakes under waist-high floodwaters, although cleanup operations had started.

"Search, rescue and retrieval operations are ongoing," Office of Civil Defense administrator Ricardo Jalad said in a statement.

The government's weather agency lowered most of its storm warnings after the typhoon blew out of the main northern Luzon region.

Many of the provinces hit by the storm were still recovering from a powerful typhoon that killed two people and displaced tens of thousands of villagers last weekend.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, on a state visit to China, urged people in the typhoon's path to heed orders by disaster agencies. Duterte is to fly home Friday.

About 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, adding to the many burdens in a country that is also threatened by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and considered one of the world's most disaster-prone nations.

In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the central Philippines with ferocious power, leaving more than 7,300 people dead and displacing more than 5 million others after leveling entire villages.

Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.</s>MANILA: One of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the Philippines destroyed houses, tore roofs off schools and ripped giant trees out of the ground on Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.

Super Typhoon Haima hit the northern province of Cagayan late on Wednesday night with winds almost on a par with catastrophic Haiyan, which was then the strongest storm to strike the disaster-prone Southeast Asian archipelago and claimed more than 7,350 lives in 2013.

Haima roared across mountain and farming communities of the northern regions of the main island of Luzon overnight, and by morning a picture was emerging of widescale destruction.

“Rice and corn plants as far as the eye can see are flattened,” Villamor Visaya, a university teacher in Ilagan, one of the main northern cities with a population of 130,000 people, told AFP by telephone.

“Many houses were destroyed. I saw one school building crushed under a large tree… it was as if our house was being pulled from its foundations.

Haima hit coastal towns facing the Pacific Ocean with sustained winds of 225 kilometres (140 miles) an hour, and wind gusts of up to 315 kilometres.

It weakened overnight as it rammed into giant mountain ranges and by 9:00 am (0100 GMT) on Thursday was leaving the western edge of Luzon, heading towards southern China.

Jefferson Soriano, mayor of Tuguegarao, the capital of Cagayan where Haima made landfall, reported badly damaged schools and gymnasiums where people had sought shelter.

“They are calling for help because the roofs have been torn off. The problem is, our rescuers here are unable to go out and help,” Soriana told DZMM radio before dawn while the storm was still raging.

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday night all possible preparations had been made for Haima, with tens of thousands of people evacuated, but he still struck an ominous tone.

“We only pray we be spared the destruction such as the previous times, which brought agony and suffering,” Duterte said in Beijing, where he was on a state visit.

“But we are ready. Everything has been deployed.”

About 10 million people across the northern parts of Luzon were at risk, the government’s disaster risk management agency said on Wednesday.

The Philippine islands are often the first major landmass to be hit by storms that generate over the Pacific Ocean. The Southeast Asian archipelago endures about 20 major storms each year, many of them deadly.

The most powerful and deadliest was Haiyan, which destroyed entire towns in heavily populated areas of the central Philippines.

The capital of Manila is about 350 kilometres south of where Haima struck land.

However the city, with about 12 million people, was not affected, hit only by moderate winds overnight and little rain.

Haima was the second typhoon to hit the northern Philippines in a week, after Sarika struck on Sunday claiming at least one life and leaving three people missing. – AFP</s>VIGAN, Philippines (AP) — At least five people were killed after Super Typhoon Haima smashed into the northern Philippines with ferocious winds and rains overnight, flooding towns and forcing thousands to flee before weakening Thursday and blowing into the South China Sea, officials said.

Haima’s blinding winds and rain had rekindled fears and memories from the catastrophe wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, but there were no immediate reports of any major damage amid faulty communications and power outages in several villages cut off from government aid and rescue teams by fallen trees, landslide and flood.

Nearly 100,000 villagers were evacuated from high-risk communities as the typhoon approached, helping prevent a larger number of casualties.

Two construction workers died, however, when a landslide buried their shanty in La Trinidad town in the mountain province of Benguet, officials said, while two villagers drowned in floodwaters and another is missing in Ifugao province, near Benguet. A 70-year-old man died apparently of a heart attack while being brought to an emergency shelter from a flooded neighborhood in Isabela province, officials said.

Although storms are a part of life in the country’s north, many villagers were still horrified by Haima’s fury.

“In my age, I’m 60 years old, this is the strongest typhoon I have ever seen,” village councilor Willie Cabalteja told The Associated Press in Vigan city in Ilocos Sur province. “We haven’t slept. Trees were forced down, houses lost their roofs and fences and metal sheets were flying around all night.”

The fast-moving Pacific typhoon slammed into shore in northeastern Cagayan province late Wednesday then barreled northwestward before blowing out into the South China Sea with sustained winds of 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 185 kph (115 mph), according to forecasters.

Although weakening, the typhoon was expected to blow toward China, Filipino forecasters said.

After dawn, the extent of damage in Cagayan — about 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Manila — and nearby regions became evident, with overturned vans, toppled or leaning electric posts and debris blocking roads. Most stores, their window panes shattered and canopies shredded by the wind, were close.

In northern Ilocos Sur province, ricefields resembled brown lakes under waist-high floodwaters, although cleanup operations had started.

“Search, rescue and retrieval operations are ongoing,” Office of Civil Defense administrator Ricardo Jalad said in a statement.

The government’s weather agency lowered most of its storm warnings after the typhoon blew out of the main northern Luzon region.

Many of the provinces hit by the storm were still recovering from a powerful typhoon that killed two people and displaced tens of thousands of villagers last weekend.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, on a state visit to China, urged people in the typhoon’s path to heed orders by disaster agencies. Duterte is to fly home Friday.

About 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, adding to the many burdens in a country that is also threatened by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and considered one of the world’s most disaster-prone nations.

In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the central Philippines with ferocious power, leaving more than 7,300 people dead and displacing more than 5 million others after leveling entire villages.

Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.</s>The Hong Kong Observatory raised its typhoon 8 signal, one of its highest warnings which rate typhoons up to 10, as Haima crossed the northern part of the South China Sea after lashing the Philippines.

"According to the present forecast track, Haima will be closest to Hong Kong around noon, skirting about 100 km (62 miles) to the east of the territory," said the observatory on its website.

"This means that winds with mean speeds of 63 kmh (40 mph) or more are expected from the northwest quarter."

Flights and train services have been canceled going in and out of the city. When a typhoon 8 signal is in place businesses, government offices and schools stay closed, including banks, port operations and the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Haima strikes Hong Kong just as it recovers from a day of torrential rain on Wednesday that caused several minor landslides and localized flooding.
The Philippine government places more than two dozen provinces on alert before Typhoon Haima makes landfall over Luzon. Haima, downgraded by the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System to a Category 4 storm, landfalls Cagayan province in the island's northeast. Weather forecasters expect the storm to impact up to 2.7 million people before veering northwest toward the Chinese coast on October 21.