© AP/Bullit MarquezA rescuer helps a resident to go to a safer area after heavy rains spawned by Tropical Storm Fung-Wong flooded Marikina city, east of Manila, Philippines and most parts of the metropolis Friday, Sept. 19, 2014
Thirteen people are now dead and 18 injured in two countries as tens of thousands have been forced from their homes due to
Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which lashed the Philippines and then Taiwan with extremely heavy rainfall.
The Philippine government's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council says 425 houses have been destroyed and another 1,710 damaged due to the storm, which was called "Mario" in the Philippines.
The storm's torrential rains, which flooded much of the Philippine capital, battered the country's northern provinces Saturday. The provinces of Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, north of Manila on the far northwestern coast of the main island of Luzon, account for more than half of the damaged and destroyed houses.
More than 800,000 residents of metropolitan Manila and nearby provinces were affected as their communities were inundated by floodwaters, according to local officials. In the capital city, at least 86,000 people were displaced in one of the worst floods in years to hit this sprawling metropolis of some 12 million people. About
205,000 residents were displaced by the storm countrywide.
© AP/Bullit Marquez
The NDRRMC report says nine people have died due to drownings, two by electrocution and one due to a head injury, for a total of 12 fatalities. The deaths were concentrated around Metro Manila and areas to the south and southeast in southern Luzon -- ironically, areas that received less rainfall than farther north. Fourteen people were injured in the Philippines.
Comment: Montpellier today: