Manila - Typhoon Xangsane blew towards China yesterday after battering the Philippines' main island Luzon, killing 14 people, plunging towns and cities into darkness and forcing more than 40,000 to flee their homes.
At least 25 people, mostly fishermen caught at sea by the typhoon, were missing while 217 were injured, the civil defence office said.
Xangsane triggered floods which submerged homes and damaged nearly 10,000 houses in the capital Manila and nearby provinces, it said.