Sharjah24 - WAM: Typhoon Doksuri ripped roofs off of homes, flooded villages, knocked out power and displaced more than 12,000 people Wednesday as it smashed into a small island and lashed northern Philippine provinces with ferocious winds and rain, Associated Press (AP) reported.
There were no immediate reports of casualties after the typhoon slammed into Fuga island off Aparri town in Cagayan province, where more than 12,100 people were evacuated from high-risk coastal villages, and schools and workplaces were shut down as a precaution as Doksuri approached.
Thousands of people in other northern provinces were also displaced by the typhoon, which had a 700-kilometre-wide (435-mile-wide) band of wind and rain.
Doksuri weakened slightly but remained dangerous and lethal with sustained winds of 175 kph (109 mph) and gusts of up to 240 kph (149 mph). It was blowing over the coastal waters of Fuga and Aparri town Wednesday morning, forecasters said.
More than 4,600 inter-island ferry passengers and cargo truck drivers, along with nearly 100 passenger and cargo vessels and motors, were stranded in several ports where a no-sail order was imposed, the Philippine coast guard said.