Typhoon Mangkhut brings along strong wind(Photo: Xinhua/VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – At least 30 miners were killed and 13 others went missing in a landslide, triggered by Typhoon Mangkhut, in Itogon town, the Philippines’ northern province of Benguet.
Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Northern Luzon Command, said a total of 43 miners were trapped when the typhoon hit the Philippines on September 15. Rescue efforts are underway for the missing miners.
Mangkhut caused a total of 81 landslides and 13 flooding incidents in the Cordillera Administrative Region alone. It is the 15th typhoon and the strongest to make landfall in the Philippines this year.
Meanwhile, China’s Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions raised the storm alert to its highest level on September 16 as Typhoon Mangkhut was fast approaching.
Serious flooding was reported in Lei Yue Mun fishing village on Kowloon island, with a water level measured at more than one metre. As the storm tore past Cheung Chou island in the southwest of Hong Kong, trees were snapped in half, and windows and walls in tower blocks and skyscrapers smashed.
Up to 889 flights from Chek Lap Kok International Airport were cancelled; while railway, subway and bus services suspended, and schools, offices and shopping malls closed.
Nearly 800 residents were preemptively evacuated. Hospitals across Hong Kong have received 111 injured people so far.
Mangkhut also caused the cancellation of more than 400 flights at two airports of China’s Hainan province on September 16, and all resorts and schools were closed.
Guangdong, Hainan and Zhuang autonomous region in Guangxi province all suffered strong winds and downpours on the day as Mangkhut battered southern China.
Fishing vessels’ operation and boat and railway services connecting Guangdong and Hainan were halted.
Authorities of Guangdong province opened 3,777 storm shelters and evacuated 100,000 people.
Earlier, Mangkhut was predicted to hit Vietnam’s northern region on September 17. However, it then changed direction and weakened from a typhoon to a tropical storm and moved deeper into China.-VNA
VNA
