AlQa'dah 9, 1433, Sep 25, 2012, SPA - Two people were killed and thousands forced to flee their homes as a powerful typhoon churned off the Philippines' east coast, the Office of Civil Defence said Tuesday. Typhoon Jelawat gained strength as it moved closer to the northern Philippines, packing maximum sustained winds of 205 kilometres per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 240 kph, the weather bureau said. Jelawat dumped heavy rains over an 800-kilometre-wide area, prompting authorities to ban small boats from sailing in the country's eastern coast, according to a report of dpa.
