Powerful typhoon lashes Philippines, killing at least 10

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A super typhoon blew into the eastern Philippines with disastrous force Sunday, killing at least 10 people and triggering volcanic mudflows that engulfed about 150 houses before weakening as it blew away from the country, officials said.

Typhoon Goni blasted into the eastern island province of Catanduanes at dawn from the Pacific with sustained winds of 140 miles per hour and gusts of 174 miles per hour, threatening some provinces still recovering from a deadly typhoon that hit a week ago.

Goni barrelled through densely populated regions and threatened to sideswipe Manila, which shut down its main airport, but shifted southward Sunday night and spared the capital, the government weather agency said.

At least nine people were killed in the hard-hit province of Albay, including a father and son. Villagers fled to safety as the typhoon approached, but the two apparently stayed put in the community in Guinobatan town where about 150 houses were inundated by volcanic mudflow.

“The child was found 9 miles away,” Albay Governor Al Francis Bichara told DZMM radio, adding that the boy was swept away by mudflows and found in the next town.

He did not say whether there were any other residents trapped by the rampaging mudflows in the community and added that downed communications made it hard for people to communicate.

The Office of Civil Defence reported that three Guinobatan residents were missing, but it was not immediately clear if they were from the mudflow-hit community.

The other deaths in Albay included a villager who was pinned by a fallen tree.

One person was killed in Catanduanes province.

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