12 dead, millions without power as typhoon hits Philippines

Space Daily via AFP: Typhoon Nari pummelled the northern Philippines early Saturday, ripping roofs off buildings, killing 12 people and leaving more than two million without power. Nari slammed into the country's east coast around midnight (1600 GMT Friday), toppling trees and pylons as it cut a westward swathe through the farming regions of the main island of Luzon, officials said.

"While there were relatively few casualties, a lot of areas are still flooded," Eduardo del Rosario, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council told a news conference. Witnesses in the coastal town of Baler, near where Nari made landfall, said many large trees had been felled and clean-up crews with chainsaws were clearing the roads.

Government clerk Glenn Diwa, 34, said she and her husband spent a sleepless as the typhoon roared through the town of Capas, 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of Manila. "It started close to midnight and lasted three hours. The wind was very strong and there was a whistling sound. After a while we heard torn roofing sheets clattering across the yard," she told AFP.

As Nari moved inland, dumping rain, a wall of mud fell on a police barracks near the town of Magalang, killing an officer awaiting deployment to rescue typhoon victims, the civil defence office in the region said....

Typhoon Nari on October 10, 2013, from NASA