Severe typhoon Vamco in the Philippines has claimed at least eleven lives and fifteen people are missing.

 

Vamco also caused significant flooding in the Philippine capital Manila, where at least 40,000 houses were destroyed. It is the eighth typhoon to reach the Philippines in two months.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday ordered government agencies to speed up relief efforts. Duterte shortened his attendance at a virtual meeting with other Southeast Asian leaders to focus on the typhoon’s damage.

He did make a short speech in which he called for combating the consequences of climate change.

On the island of Luzon, where half of the country’s 108 million inhabitants live, people were killed by drowning and a building collapse. In Manila, residents took refuge on top of flooded houses. It is the worst flooding in the city in years.

The Coast Guard swam in some suburbs through muddy water that stood as high as electricity poles. Rescue workers used dinghies and makeshift rafts to get children and the elderly to safety.

Nearly 200,000 people were evacuated before Vamco came ashore on Wednesday evening with wind speeds of 155 kilometres per hour. The power of the typhoon has since waned. The typhoon followed the same path as Typhoon Goni earlier this month.

The storm, the worst of the year worldwide, killed 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes.