MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A tropical storm hit the northern and central Philippines on Sunday, killing at least one person and forcing more than 22,000 people to evacuate villages prone to flooding and landslides, officials said.
Tropical Storm Fengsheng was recorded at noon over Manila Bay with sustained winds of up to 65 km/h (40 mph) and gusts of up to 90 km/h (56 mph). It was expected to move away from the main northern Philippine region of Luzon on Sunday evening, government forecasters said.
A villager drowned on Saturday in the town of Roxas in the central province of Capiz, where flooding in many villages was worsened by rising tides, police and provincial officials said.
Five villagers died after their hut was struck early Sunday by a tree that residents were trying to burn in the town of Pitogo in eastern Quezon province, provincial police chief Romulo Albasea said by telephone, saying authorities were assessing whether the deaths should be classified as direct causes of the storm.
Later on Sunday, Fengsheng, locally known as Ramil, will begin to move away from the main northern Philippine region of Luzon into the South China Sea, heading toward Vietnam, government forecaster Glaiza Escular said.
The storm, the 18th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippine archipelago this year, struck as central and southern provinces were still recovering from recent earthquakes that killed more than 80 people, displaced thousands and damaged more than 134,000 homes in central Cebu province alone, the mitigation agency said natural disasters in the country.
The Philippines, located between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms every year. It is frequently hit by earthquakes and has about two dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
