Typhoon Nari kills 13 in Philippines

Typhoon Nari pounded the northern Philippines early yesterday, killing 13 people, ripping roofs off thousands of buildings, and leaving more than two million without power.

Nari tore into the country's northeast coast around midnight, toppling trees and pylons as it cut a westward swathe through the farming regions of the main island of Luzon.

"While there were relatively few casualties, a lot of areas are still flooded," said Eduardo del Rosario, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Witnesses in the coastal town of Baler, near where Nari made landfall, said many large trees had been felled and clean-up crews with chainsaws were clearing roads.

Military and police rescuers trucked residents out of flooded villages as the weather improved after the typhoon, packing winds of up to 120km/h, swept out to the South China Sea towards northern Vietnam.

Government clerk Glenn Diwa, 34, said she and her husband spent a sleepless night as the typhoon roared through the town of Capas, 90 kilometres north of Manila, shortly before midnight.

"The wind was very strong and there was a whistling sound. After a while we heard torn roofing sheets clattering across the yard," she said.