At least 14 dead after Typhoon Mirinae lashes Philippines

Typhoon Mirinae smashed into Manila and nearby provinces and left 14 dead and four missing in its wake, a disaster report said on Sunday.Mirinae has left the Philippines, but villages struck by flash floods are only beginning to recover. Thirty municipalities in Laguna were flooded, damaging homes and large swaths of agricultural land in the coconut-growing province. Floods rose to as high as six feet in some areas. Some villages still flooded from Typhoon Ketsana saw water levels worsen when Mirinae dumped heavy rains. The rains caused a river to overflow in Santa Cruz, 87 kilometres away from Manila, submerging 85 percent of the town. Residents who evacuated their homes during the flash floods were cleaning-up mud and debris on Sunday.Mirinae was the third typhoon to hit the Philippines in recent weeks, but it did not dump as much rain as Ketsana and Parma. Floods and landslides from the two previous typhoons killed 920 people and caused damages worth 38 billion pesos ($796 million). Small businesses in Santa Cruz, like Roland Agorilla's motorcycle parts shop, were also caught unprepared by the flash floods. More than 5,000 houses across northern and central Philippines were either partially or totally destroyed in the typhoon, and nearly 10,000 people were housed in evacuation centres. Mirinae also brought strong winds and flood currents that damaged bridges and buildings in five provinces.Mirinae, now a tropical storm, was last seen 450 kilometres southwest of Manila with winds of 85 kph and gusts of 100 kph.