A child wades through floodwater in Santa Rosa Township, Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila, the Philippines on October 19. (Photo: AFP/VNA) More than 60,000 people have been displaced.
After hitting the east coast of Luzon Island on October 18, the slow-moving typhoon brought heavy rains to some of the country’s most important farming areas, said Nigel Lontoc, a regional rescue official.
The floods are rising fast and many residents of flooded villages remain trapped on their rooftops, Lontoc stated, adding that it is too early to determine an exact number of those stranded.
Rescue forces are working to help them, he affirmed.
By the early evening of October 19, Koppu was on the northwest coast of Luzon and moving into the East Sea with peak winds of 150 kilometres per hour.
The storm is forecast to continue dumping heavy rains across the nation by October 21.
The Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons a year. Super typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful storm ever recorded, swept the country in 2013, claiming 7,300 lives.-VNA
