Baguio - Typhoon Utor moved toward Hong Kong and southern China yesterday after pummelling the Philippines. It left 43 people dead and at least 42 missing, including Taiwanese and Chinese sailors, rescuers said.
Gusts of 170 kmph cut down power and telephone lines, flattened farms and houses and brought heavy rain across the main island of Luzon, causing widespread flooding and displacing more than 175,000 people, the civil defence office in Manila said. Baguio city, a mountain resort, bore the brunt of the damage.
Meanwhile, in northern Vietnam at least 25 people have been killed and others are reported missing after floods caused by heavy rains from a tropical storm swept mountainous provinces.
News reports and local officials said tens of thousands of homes had been flooded or badly damaged after the worst floods to hit this year struck over the past two days.