(Newswire.net — December 15, 2015) –One person died from hypothermia while two drowned in the floods that swept Katarman, a poor fishing town in the province of Northern Samar, south of Manila, said the local official, Jonathan Baldo, AFP reports.
The storm toppled trees which cut electricity in at least seven provinces, so millions were left without power. People who fled from their coastal homes spent a night in evacuation centres, sprawled on tables and chairs.
Typhoon Melor struck during the night through the Bicol peninsula, where 5.4 million people live, before arriving on Tuesday morning into the Romblon island.
“We have zero floods, zero deaths, zero casualties”, Albay Governor, Joey Salceda, told ABS-CBN television.
Governor added: “What we are asking for is the early restoration of electricity because the entire province of 1.2 million people is without power”.
The wind had weakened slightly this morning, but is still reaching speeds of 106 miles with gusts of 115 miles per hour.
Authorities were assessing damage while bracing for another typhoon east of Mindanao, the country’s main southern island.
Bad weather forced the cancellation of 16 domestic flights on Tuesday, adding to the 56 flights cancelled on Monday, said Mina Marasigan, NDRRMC spokeswoman.
According to the National meteorological service, the storm should further weaken today as it heads for the island of Mindoro and further to the South China Sea.
Typhoons in the Philippines are common, about 20 per year. The last deadly storm was this October in Koppu: it killed 54 people and tens of thousands left their homes.
One of the strongest typhoons – Haiyan, on November 2013 caused the tsunami-like waves, that hit the central region, leaving 7,350 people dead or missing.