Thousands flee in Philippines as Typhoon Sarika causes landslides and flooding

Typhoon Sarika lashed the main Philippine island of Luzon on Sunday, ripping off roofs, toppling power pylons and forcing more than 12,000 people to flee to safer ground, officials said.

Minor landslides and flooding were also reported a day after the cyclone brushed past a remote island and left one person drowned and three others missing, they said.

“The roofs of some house were blown away and power was cut in some areas,” Mina Marasigan, spokeswoman for the government’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said.

However, she said it was too early to say if Luzon had escaped any casualties, with local governments still assessing the extent of the damage in their areas.

Government crews and utility workers immediately went to work clearing roads buried by landslides, toppled trees and posts and other debris while some towns began sending people in shelters back to their homes as the danger passed, officials said.

Sarika swept out into the South China Sea early afternoon after dumping heavy rain across a broad section of the island, the state weather service said.