Typhoon leaves 40 dead in Philippines*

MANILA, Sept 29 (AFP) Sep 29, 2006

Emergency workers mounted a massive clean-up operation Friday after the
strongest typhoon to pound Manila in a decade left a trail of
devastation, at least 40 people dead and millions more without power
before heading toward Vietnam.

Typhoon Xangsane ripped off roofs, tore up trees and power lines and
sent debris hurtling into the air after piling through the Philippines
at a maximum 130 kilometers (81 miles) per hour from before dawn Thursday.

Xangsane was reported Friday to be barrelling across the South China Sea
toward Vietnam, which has braced for its expected arrival on Sunday by
putting coastal provinces on high alert and preparing for mass evacuations.

Financial markets and schools remained closed Friday in Manila as a huge
clean-up operation began across the sprawling city of 12 million people.

The civil defense office said 40 people were confirmed dead following
the typhoon.

Some 14 were killed by a landslide on Friday near the capital while
others died from falling debris and trees on Thursday.

At least 12 other people were listed by the civil defense office as
missing although some local rescue teams said as many as 30 others might
be missing, washed away by floodwaters.

Rescue workers in Cavite province, just south of Manila, said they had
recovered two bodies of people swept away by floodwaters. The civil
defense office could not confirm the report.

Hundreds of homes were destroyed and 19 key roads and bridges left
impassable due to damage or continuing floods, the office added.

An initial estimate of damage to crops and infrastructure was placed at
654 million pesos (13.03 million dollars), government officials said.

But it added that the damage in many places had yet to be quantified.

"The wind was so loud and the rain so heavy that it sounded like bricks
falling on the roof," said Daisy Arevalo, a maid in Taguig, one of
Manila's poorer suburbs.

"The tin roof on the back of the house was ripped off by the wind and
disappeared," she added.

President Gloria Arroyo called an emergency meeting of energy and civil
defense officials to speed up rehabilitation efforts.

The typhoon slammed into the Philippines' main island of Luzon before
dawn Thursday, hammered Manila and forced an island-wide power cut as it
tore towards the South China Sea.

It was the strongest typhoon to strike Manila in 11 years, the
government weather station said, and the 10th to hit the country this year.

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country's main power distributor,
said it had restored electrical service to over 50 percent of
metropolitan Manila and surrounding regions.

Earlier Meralco president Chito Francisco said they could restore about
60 percent by Friday evening while Arroyo urged him to raise the target
to 80 percent.

Schools and government offices in metropolitan Manila remained shut due
to the power cuts. Streets were still blocked by fallen trees,
electricity and telephone poles and other debris.

"We have a lot of debris on the streets. We are also having difficulty
in restoring power," said Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, who also heads
the civil defense office.