Typhoon rains kill six in Philippines
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Reuters
Saturday, November 24, 2007; 11:44 PM

MANILA (Reuters) - Heavy rain from an approaching typhoon lashed the
Philippines on Sunday, killing at least six people and destroying homes
and rice paddies, officials said.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters six people were killed
in the Bicol region of the central Philippines by rain from Typhoon
Mitag, including two who were electrocuted.

About 1,000 hectares of rice fields and many roads were inundated and
scores of houses destroyed.

Mitag, packing winds of 160 km per hour (100 miles per hour) at its
centre, was slowly moving northwest and poised to make landfall late on
Sunday night in the northern provinces of Aurora and Isabela, weather
officials said.

But storm winds at the periphery of the typhoon system have been lashing
the central Philippines for the past three days.

On Saturday, the military ordered the suspension of offensive operations
against communist rebels to free up troops for relief operations.

Thousands of people were being evacuated from coastal areas of Aurora
and Isabela after Mitag, which was earlier poised to hit Bicol, changed
course and veered north.

Disaster officials had evacuated more than 290,000 people from their
homes in Bicol, where volcanic mud from the slopes of Mount Mayon can
trigger lethal landslides. Tens of thousands were allowed to return home
after Mitag changed course, but thousands of others were being evacuated
from the northern provinces.

Mitag (a woman's name, pronounced Me-tok, from Yap in the Pacific Ocean)
is expected to cut through the northern part of the main Philippines
island of Luzon before passing into the South China Sea on Tuesday.

Storms regularly hit the Philippines and authorities hope to avoid a
repeat of last year's devastating Typhoon Durian, which killed 1,200 and
left 120,000 homeless when it crashed through Bicol.