MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Toraji unleashed floods, knocked down trees and caused power outages in the northern Philippines before weakening into a tropical storm and blowing out to the South China Sea, officials said Tuesday as they braced for another approaching storm. The Philippines has scrambled to deal with multiple calamities wreaked by four and storms, including Toraji, that devastated the northern region of Luzon, including vast farmlands and communities, in less than a month. A brewing storm in the Pacific may strengthen into a typhoon and hit the country on Thursday, forecasters said.
There were no immediate reports of deaths from Toraji. Authorities were still clearing roads blocked by fallen trees, electricity poles and small landslides set off by Toraji to allow the passage of food packs and other government aid and to rescue those who might be stranded in far-flung villages, officials said. Disaster-response contingents, including army troops, police and the coast guard, have been struggling to respond to the aftermaths of the successive typhoons and storms, but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
assured people Friday that help was on the way to communities battered by Toraji, locally called Nika. “Even if there’s still stormy weather and strong wind out there, they say they can still do it. They can still work to clear trees that fell and the electric posts that were knocked down so our relief goods can pass through,” Marcos told reporters.
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