At least 3 dead as typhoon sweeps through Philippines

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines (AA) - At least three people were confirmed dead Monday as a powerful typhoon swept through the Philippines after making landfall on Christmas evening.

The Philippine Inquirer reported the provincial director of Albay police, Senior Superintendent Antonino Cirujales, as saying that the fatalities were a woman who died after a concrete wall of her house collapsed and a couple who drowned.

Cedric Daep, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office chief, said authorities were still verifying whether the deaths could be considered casualties of Typhoon Nock-Ten -- locally known as Nina.

The typhoon, which the government weather station says is packing winds of 230 kilometers (143 miles) per hour, has forced more than 218,000 people to flee their homes.

Over 45 domestic and international flights have been cancelled, according to the civil defense office.

Since the storm hit land on the eastern island province of Catanduanes on Sunday, it has been moving northwest across northern Luzon island and the capital Manila region.

Nock-ten is expected to leave the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Wednesday morning.

The Philippines suffers around 20 typhoons and storms each year, many of them deadly.

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan -- one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded -- struck the country’s central islands, leaving more than 8,000 people dead, missing and injured.