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 The eye of Typhoon Rammasun, the strongest storm to hit the
country this year, passed south of Manila on Wednesday after cutting
a path across the main island of Luzon, toppling trees and power
lines and causing electrocutions and widespread blackouts.
Government offices, financial markets and schools closed for the
day.
Major roads across Luzon were blocked by debris, fallen trees,
electricity poles and tin roofs ripped off village houses. The storm
uprooted trees in the capital where palm trees lining major arteries
were bent over by the wind as broken hoardings bounced down the
streets.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson and Admiral
Alexander Pama, the executive director of the National Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Council, surveyed the typhoon-affected
areas by helicopter.
 "I am happily surprised because of the minimal casualties and
damage," Singson said, adding the typhoon had passed through the
most populated area of the country, with about 17 million people
living in its path.
Singson and Pama said the government was more prepared this time,
after the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan in November,
evacuating people at risk in coastal and landslide-prone areas well
before the typhoon made landfall.
Parts of the Philippines are still recovering from Haiyan, one of
the biggest cyclones known to have made landfall anywhere. It killed
more than 6,100 people in the central provinces, many in
tsunami-like sea surges, and left millions homeless.
Tropical Storm Risk, which monitors cyclones, downgraded Rammasun to
a category-one storm on a scale of one to five as it headed
northwest into the South China Sea. Haiyan was category five. A
category-one storm has maximum sustained winds of 95 mph (153 kph)
But it predicted Rammasun would gain in strength to a category-three
storm within a couple of days, picking up energy from the warm sea
as it heads for the Chinese island of Hainan.
The number of evacuated people had reached more than 370,000, mostly
in the eastern province of Albay, the first to be hit by the
typhoon, the disaster agency said. They were taken to schools,
gymnasiums and town halls converted into shelters.
 TACLOBAN HIT AGAIN
The storm brought storm surges to Manila Bay and prompted disaster
officials to evacuate slum-dwellers on the capital's outskirts.
More than half of Luzon was without power, Energy Secretary Carlos
Jericho Petilla told reporters. Manila Electric Company, the
country's biggest power utility exclusively supplying to the
capital, said around 86 percent of its customers were without
electricity.
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Rhea Catada, who works for Oxfam in Tacloban, which suffered the
brunt of Haiyan, said thousands of people in tents and coastal
villages had been evacuated to higher ground.
"They are scared because their experiences during Haiyan last year
are still fresh," she said. "Now they are evacuating voluntarily and
leaving behind their belongings."
Social Work Secretary Dinky Soliman said 5,335 families, or nearly
27,000 people, had been "affected" by the storm in Tacloban. Some
had returned to the Astrodome, where thousands sought shelter and
dozens drowned during storm surges in the November disaster.
A 25-year-old woman was killed when she was hit by a falling
electricity pole as Rammasun hit the east coast on Tuesday, the
Philippine disaster agency said. A pregnant woman was killed when a
house wall collapsed in Lucena City in Quezon province south of the
capital.
Nearly 400 flights were grounded during a four-hour closure of
Manila airport. Two airliners suffered minor damage when gusts blew
them into nearby obstacles, airport officials said.
Train services in the capital remained suspended because of the lack
of power. Ferry services were to resume later in the day, including
to the holiday island of Boracay where 300 tourists were stranded.
Schools, public offices and financial markets will reopen on
Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Karen Lema and Erik dela Cruz; Writing by
Nick Macfie)
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