Typhoon Mangkhut kills dozens in the Philippines

At least 25 people have been killed in the Philippines in a trail of devastation left by Typhoon Mangkhut, mostly in landslides in mountainous areas, a presidential adviser said on Sunday.

Twenty deaths in the Cordillera region on the main island of Luzon and four in nearby Nueva Vizcaya province were caused by landslides. Another death resulted from a treefall in the province of Ilocos Sur, Francis Tolentino said by telephone.

The tally reflected the situation at 9 a.m. local time on Sunday, said Tolentino, the main disaster response co-ordinator and an adviser to President Rodrigo Duterte, adding that reports from other areas of northern Luzon, hit by the typhoon on Saturday, were still flowing in.

The Cordillera deaths were confirmed by Emmanuel Salamat, of the office of civil defense, who said police had reported at least 20 dead there.

'Remain alert'

Mangkhut entered the Philippines as a super typhoon in theearly hoursand sent winds and rains across the entire mainisland of Luzon, home to about half the country's 105 millionpeople.

Known locally as Ompong, Typhoon Mangkhut at one point hadmaximum gusts of 305 km/hbefore it exited the landarea before noon and moved toward southern China and Vietnamwith reduced wind speeds of 106 km/h.

Philippine state weather agency PAGASA downgraded thedomestic threat level, but warned the danger was far from over,withstorm surges and heavy rains that could triggerfloods and more landslides.

"We are asking the people to remain alert and continuetaking precautions," said PAGASA meteorologist Rene Paciente.

Rapid response teams were on standby with the air force forsearch and rescue missions as authorities undertook damageassessments in areas in the path of the storm, which felledtrees, electricity poles and tore off shop signs and sheet metalroofs hundreds of kilometresaway.

Strongest storm this year

There was flooding in several provinces and parts of thecapital Manila. Authorities were preparing to release water fromseveral dams, fearing constant rains could push reservoirs todangerously high levels.

Mangkhut had been a Category 5 storm for days since wreakinghavoc in U.S. Pacific territories of Micronesia before edgingtoward the Philippines, where it is the 15th and strongeststorm this year.

The typhoon's peak winds were stronger than those ofHurricane Florence, which has killed at least five people in the UnitedStates after it piled into the Carolinas, knocking down trees,gorging rivers and causing major power outages before it wasdowngraded to a tropical storm.

Surge warnings

Some 105,000 people were staying in temporary shelters aftermass evacuation of coastal areas of the Philippines followingmajor storm surge warnings.

Authorities in some areas of northern Luzon turned off poweras a precaution, and said some residents in high-risk areaschose to ride out the storm to protect homes from looters.

More than 1,000 houses were impacted in Cagayan province,where the storm first made landfall, with authorities in thetown of Baggao saying they had lost contact with an emergencyresponse team, said Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.

Cagayanprovince hit hard

Rogelio Sending, a government official in Cagayan, said therewere provincewide power and communication outages and reportsof uprooted trees blocking roads.

"This makes the clearing operations really difficult," hesaid by phone.

The Philippines is still haunted by the devastation ofTyphoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,300 people in centralareas of the country in 2013, most due to huge storm surges.

But authorities say they were better prepared this time interms of evacuating and informing high-risk communities.

Mangkhut's winds weakened as it churned toward the South China Sea, aiming at southern China and Hong Kong.

Cheng Cho-Ming, assistent director with Hong Kong's Forecasting and Warning Services agency, saidMangkhut will bring strong gales and downpours along with storm surges to the city.

With files from The Associated Press