MANILA, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- At least four people have died as typhoon Kammuri slammed the Philippines since Monday, government officials said on Tuesday.
Claudio Yucot, director of the Office of Civil Defense in the Bicol region, said a 33-year-old man died of electrocution on Monday morning while fixing the roof of his house in Libmanan town in Camarines Sur province.
Oriental Mindoro Governor Hubert Dolor said a 59-year-old man died after a tree fell on him while clearing debris in front of his house in Baco town. Another man was hit by a galvanized iron sheet in Pinamalayan town.
Police said a 38-year-old man also died in Ormoc town in Leyte province after being hit by fallen tree branches on Monday.
At least half a million people from Bicol region and nearby provinces south of Manila have been taken to safer place. Electricity was also shut in the region, local officials said.
Classes and government offices were also suspended in the affected provinces. Airport authorities shut the Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for 12 hours starting 11:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. (local time) on Tuesday, affecting nearly 500 international and domestic flights.
In its 5:00 p.m. bulletin, the state weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the center of the typhoon was last located 110 km northwest of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, carrying maximum sustained winds of up to 130 km per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 200 kph.
Kammuri continues to move west at 25 km per hour (kph), leaving destruction as well as deaths in its path.
Powerful winds have also ripped apart glass walls and shattered windows of Legazpi airport in Albay Province, toppling trees and electric posts in the Bicol region and in Samar province.
"We were beaten by the typhoon. Many of our trees and electric posts were downed," Sorsogon Province Governor Chiz Escudero said, adding that there were no one reported dead or injured in the province.
The government is still assessing the extent of the damage.
On average, the Philippines experiences 20 typhoons every year, some of which are intense and truly devastating.
Landslides and flash floods are common across this archipelagic country during rainy season, especially when the typhoons hit.
