A child wades through floodwater in Santa Rosa Township, Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila, the Philippines on October 19. (Photo: AFP/VNA) The number of people killed by super typhoon Koppu in the Philippines rose to 47 although widespread flooding and heavy rains across the northern mountainous region as a result of the disaster eased on October 21.
Among the dead, 16 were killed in mountainous areas where torrential rains triggered landslides that buried homes and destroyed roads. Fourteen others lost their lives in the bad weather elsewhere across the country.
The floods have also forced more than 107,000 people to leave their homes for evacuation centres, reported local media.
On October 19 and 20, more than 300 villages in the central farming areas of Luzon were submerged.
The state weather service said Koppu currently melts into a tropical depression off Luzon's north coast with winds of 55 kilometres an hour.
Koppu landed on Luzon on October 18 with winds of up to 210 kilometres an hour, making it the second strongest storm to plough into the Philippines this year.
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
