TUGUEGARAO, Philippines (AP) - The Latest on Typhoon Mangkhut (all times local):
11:15 a.m.
Philippine officials say the death toll from Typhoon Mangkhut has risen to 28, mostly due to landslides in northern mountain provinces.
Police Director General Oscar Albayalde told The Associated Press that 20 had died in the Cordillera region, four in Nueva Vizcaya province and another outside of the two regions, as the typhoon battered the rice-growing and mountain area on Saturday. Three more deaths have been reported in northeastern Cagayan province, where the typhoon made landfall.
On Sunday morning, Mangkhut is barreling toward densely populated southern China and Hong Kong, where authorities raised the highest storm warnings and moved nearly half a million people to shelter from seven cities.
___
8:20 p.m.
An official says Typhoon Mangkhut has left at least 12 people dead in the northern Philippines, mostly in landslides and houses that got pummeled by the storm’s fierce winds and rain.
Presidential adviser Francis Tolentino says the dead included an infant and another child who were among four people killed in a landslide in Nueva Vizcaya, one of several provinces battered by the typhoon on Saturday.
Tolentino says that at least two other people are missing and that the death toll could climb to 16 once other casualty reports are verified.
He says about 87,000 people have been evacuated from high-risk areas and advised not to return home until the danger has passed.
Mangkhut slammed ashore before dawn Saturday in Cagayan province in the northeast and is on target to hit southern China on Sunday.
___
6:50 p.m.
A Philippine official says three people have been killed after Typhoon Mangkhut pummeled the country’s northern breadbasket with ferocious winds and rain that set off landslides, damaged an airport terminal and ripped off tin roofs.
Mayor Mauricio Domogan said three people died and six others were missing in his mountain city of Baguio on Saturday after ferocious winds and rain destroyed several houses and set off landslides, which also blocked roads to the popular vacation destination.
Authorities were verifying the drownings of three people, including two children who reportedly died as the typhoon approached.
Mangkhut’s winds weakened to 170 kilometers (105 miles) per hour after the storm blew across Luzon island toward the South China Sea, aiming at southern China and Hong Kong, where residents braced for the worst.
___
1:40 p.m.
Philippine officials are assessing damage and checking on possible casualties as Typhoon Mangkhut pummeled the northern breadbasket with ferocious wind and rain that set off landslides, damaged an airport terminal and ripped off tin roofs.
There are immediate deaths reported but Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana says officials in northeastern Cagayan province where the typhoon slammed ashore before dawn are verifying the drownings of two children. Authorities are also checking what happened to about 70 men who reportedly returned to their coastal village to check on their homes during the typhoon onslaught.
Mangkhut’s winds weakened to 170 kilometers (105 miles) per hour after it blew across Luzon Island toward the South China Sea, aiming at southern China and Hong Kong, where residents braced for the worst.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.