UPDATED: Christmas typhoon leaves 20 dead in Philippines
Typhoon Phanfone stranded many people in sea and airports at the peak of holiday travel, set off landslides, engulfed low-lying villages with floods, destroyed houses, downed trees and electrical posts and knocked out power in entire provinces. One disaster response officer described the battered coastal town of Batad in Iloilo province as a "ghost town" on Christmas Day.
The storm weakened slightly on Thursday as it blew into the South China Sea with sustained winds of 120 kilometres per hour and gusts of 150 kph after lashing island after island with fierce winds and pounding rain on Christmas Day, the weather agency said. A father, his three children and another relative were among those missing in hard-hit Iloilo province after a swollen river inundated their shanty, officials said.
Provincial officials, army troops, police and volunteers spent Christmas away from home to tend to thousands of displaced residents in town gymnasiums and schools turned into emergency shelters.
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