Flash floods and landslides killed at least 17 people in the southern Philippines on Saturday as heavy rains from Typhoon Fengshen inundated the region, causing widespread damage. Ten people drowned after the Rifao River overflowed its banks and swept away three houses in a riverside village in South Upi in southern Maguindanao province, provincial administrator Norie Unas said. Five others were missing. At least 40 people were trapped on an island in the middle of the river, said town councilor Justina Betita. She appealed to the military to send a helicopter to rescue them, but there was no immediate response from the air force, according to a report of the Associated Press. In nearby Cotabato city, a 50-year-old man and his 10-year-old grandson were killed when a landslide buried their hillside shanty, Mayor Muslimin Sema said. Four other people drowned in Maguindanao, while in neighboring Cotabato province, authorities recovered the body of a farmer, one of three people reported missing, the mayors of two towns reported. Officials said neck-deep flood waters forced the evacuation of 200 families in Sultan Kudarat township in southern Shariff Kabunsuan province, near Cotabato city. The typhoon packed sustained winds of 88 miles (140 kilometers) per hour and gusts of up to 106 mph (170 kph) when it made landfall near the southern tip of Samar island, southeast of Manila, late Friday. Officials ordered the evacuation of more than 117,000 people from areas prone to floods and landslides in central Albay province. But many returned home by midday Saturday after the typhoon missed the area. Airport authorities said 89 flights to and from the central Philippines had been canceled because of the typhoon.
