News Alert: Storm

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Tropical storm Chanchu slammed into the Philippines overnight causing flash floods and landslides that forced the evacuation of hundreds of villagers, according to disaster relief officials.

The storm, the first to hit the Philippines this year, also left 4,500 people stranded in key ports in the central Visayas and eastern Bicol regions after the coast guard suspended ferry operations.

Families from several villages in the town of Sogod, in the central island province of Southern Leyte, were also evacuated to safer ground after heavy rains caused a landslide that cut off a main highway, provincial governor Rosette Lerias told AFP.

At least 11 villages with about 1,000 families in Sogod had been isolated, with one vital bridge also impassable, Lerias said.

Another 40 families in the town of Macrohon were also evacuated after heavy flooding, she said.

"It has been raining really hard, and we had about 130 millimeters (five inches) of rainfall yesterday alone," Lerias said, adding that normal rainfall according to forecasters should be 550 millimeters in a week.

"We are working very closely with the national government in Manila and we have all the supplies we need," she said.

She said parts of Leyte as well as the entire province of Albay in the Bicol region were experiencing black outs.

The storm came almost three months after torrential rains caused the collapse of a mountainside that engulfed the Leyte village of Guinsaugon, leaving more than 1,000 people buried alive under a massive mudslide.

Nerry Amparo, head of operations in Manila's Office of Civil Defense, said field reports coming in indicated zero casualties so far in the latest storm.

Storm warnings were hoisted in some 23 provinces and islands, including the capital Manila, where rain has fallen since Thursday.

The storm however slightly weakened as it made landfall overnight, and its eye as of 11.00 am (0300 GMT) Friday was estimated at 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Camarines Sur province.

It was packing sustained winds of 95 kilometers (58 miles) per hour near its center and gusts of up to 120 kilometers (74 miles) per hour, the state weather bureau said.

Chanchu was expected to pass over Marinduque island later in the day, before heading northward to the main island of Luzon, before finally moving away on Monday.

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines said it cancelled four domestic flights to the Visayas and Bicol, but the announcement came late and many passengers were stuck in the airport.

"We will request airlines to announce early for the passengers not to come to the terminal if the flights will be cancelled tomorrow," said Octavio Lina, deputy general manager of operations at Manila airport.

Noel Rosal, the mayor of Legaspi city in eastern Albay province, said some 200 families were also evacuated in the area after flash floods and when power went down.

"But we have enough supplies and hopefully the weather will improve soon," Rosal said on local television.

An average of 19 storms and typhoons strike the Philippines every year, killing hundreds of people through floods, landslides, and other hazards induced by strong winds and heavy rain.

reposted from AFP