Track of low pressure area formerly called Usman(Photo: philstar.com)
Hanoi (VNA) – Four people were killed in landslides and thousandothers fled their homes after tropical low pressure formerly called Usman swept through thecentral Philippine islands on December 29.
Three members of a family were buried in a landslide in Lagazpi city in thesoutheast of Manila, while a woman was crushed by another landslide in Bulantown as heavy rains loosened the earth.
Some 12,000 people in Bicol region were evacuated after the low pressure areahit the eastern side of the country.
Packing maximum winds of 65 kilometres per hour, the weather disturbance wascharted as moving west across the central islands at 10 kilometres per hour,and was expected to be over the East Sea on December 30.
AlthoughUsman’s winds were not too powerful, it still brought heavy rains that causedlandslides and flooding in areas it traversed, the civil defence office said.
An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killinghundreds of people. The country’s deadliest storm on record is Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left morethan 7,350 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in November2013.-VNA
VNA
