Victims salvage damaged belongings after nearly 60 people were killed when a powerful typhoon battered the Philippines, leaving behind flooded and muddy streets.


MARIKINA CITY, MANILA, PHILIPPINES (SEPTEMBER 27, 2009) REUTERS - Nearly 60 people were killed, Manila was blacked out and airline flights were suspended as a powerful typhoon battered the main Philippines island of Luzon on Saturday (September 26), disaster officials said.
The storm packing winds of 100 kph (60 mph) dumped 341 mm (13.5 inches) of rain in six hours.

At least 47 people were killed, mostly by drowning, in Rizal province, east of Manila, radio reports quoted the local governor as saying.

Eleven more people were killed by collapsing walls and rising floodwaters in the capital area, disaster officials said.

On Sunday (September 27) morning, the rain water receded leaving a trail of mud.

Diosdado Vertus owns a convenience store in the capital.

As he surveyed the damage from the typhoon, he realised most of his stock had been destroyed.

"Beyond words. What happened here is very painful. I lost everything," Vertus said.

Disaster officials declared a "state of calamity" for the capital region and 25 other areas on the main island of Luzon in order to speed up rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Businesses and commercial shops closed early and local hotels were packed with weary commuters.

Many people had to wash their muddy bodies and clothes in buckets of water.

Others attempted to clean their household belongings and dry them in the open air.

Jeepney bus driver George Andrada said everything he owned was ruined.

"This is too much - this is a disaster. It happened very fast. All of a sudden everything is underwater. I was not able to save anything except the shirt I am wearing," he said.

The typhoon was moving west-northwest and was expected to head towards the South China Sea by Sunday evening or Monday (September 28) morning, chief weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz told a local radio station.

He said the typhoon brought the heaviest rainfall in the country since 1967 after its weather station collected 341 mm of rainfall in six hours on Saturday.

An average of about 20 typhoons strike the Southeast Asian nation every year.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appealed for donations of clothes, blankets, food and water.