DHAKA: Typhoon Nari pummelled the northern Philippines early Saturday, ripping roofs off buildings, killing 12 people and leaving more than two million people without electricity.

Nari slammed into the country’s east coast around midnight local time, toppling trees and pylons as it cut a westward swathe through the farming regions of the main island of Luzon, officials said.

‘While there were relatively few casualties, a lot of areas are still flooded,’ Eduardo del Rosario, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council told a news conference, reports The Straits Times.

Witnesses in the coastal town of Baler, near where Nari made landfall, said many large trees had been felled and clean-up crews with chainsaws were clearing the roads.

BDST: 1601 HRS, OCT 12, 2013
RoR/SRS