PULILAN, Philippines, Oct 1, 2011 (From AFP) - Typhoon Nalgae lashed the Philippines on Saturday, killing one person and bringing fresh misery for more than a million people trapped by earlier storm floods, officials said. The weather service said Nalgae swept out into the South China Sea after a six-hour daytime rampage on the main island of Luzon, but disaster management chief Benito Ramos said millions of people remained in danger.The weather service's flood forecasting section said water levels on the tributaries of major central Luzon rivers were rising fast on Saturday afternoon. These could bring floods to the 150-kilometre (93-mile) long central Luzon floodplain, it added. Packing gusts of up to 195 kilometres (121miles) an hour, Nalgae also caused widespread disruption to domestic shipping, aviation, and power supply, the disaster agency said. Meanwhile, the death toll from Nesat had risen to 52, with 31 fishermen still missing, Ramos said. Among the flood holdouts was Ida de la Cruz, a 37-year-old farmer's wife, who sought refuge on her rooftop in Pulilan, a town of 70,000 people an hour's drive north of Manila.
Envisat view of Typhoon Nalgae |
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