Typhoon kills dozens in Philippines
Typhoon Pablo (international name Bopha) swept through Philippines' largest island of Mindanao killing dozens of people, regional media and officials said on Wednesday, RIA Novosti reported.
Casualty reports are controversial, with the country's civil defense service saying in its morning update that the death toll stood at 15. Interior Minister Manuel Roxas said later in the day that 82 people were killed and 21 were listed as missing.
The country's major broadcasting company ABS-CBN said, citing officials, that most casualties occurred in the town of New Bataan, where flash floods swept away an Army patrol base and a landslide hit a populated area.
"It was absolutely unexpected, we didn't think that the flooding is going to be so powerful," regional governor Arturo Uy told the GMA News about the New Bataan floods. According to his figures, at least 33 town residents died.
Bopha, said to be among the strongest to hit the south of the country in the past 20 years, made landfall on the east coast of 10-million Mindanao Island early on Tuesday. The typhoon brought gusts of up to 210 kilometers per hour (130 mph) and heavy rain. Communications and power supplies have been cut in vast parts of the island.
The typhoon grounded over 150 flights and about 5,000 of ferry passengers were stranded at ports. Over 41,000 people had moved into some 1,000 government shelters across the island by early Tuesday.