Two dead after powerful typhoon passes north Philippines

Two people were killed after a powerful storm grazed the country’s northeastern tip over the weekend, civil defense officials said Monday.

Many of the people evacuated from the storm’s path started to return home late Sunday night, after Noul -- the fourth and strongest storm to hit the Philippines so far this year -- whipped coastal villages with wind gusts of up to 220 kilometers (137 miles) per hour.

Authorities said they were not expecting significant casualties after most heeded evacuation orders issued from Friday.

“People listened to our warnings. They’ve learned their lesson from past storms,” Norma Talosig, civil defense director for the northeastern region, told Agence France-Presse.

A 70-year-old man and his 45-year-old son died after being electrocuted while fixing their house in Aparri town Sunday morning as Typhoon Noul started to bear down.

The state weather bureau said the winds were strong enough to stir storm surges, uproot trees, blow roofs off houses, topple lamp posts and destroy crops.

But Talosig said there have been no immediate reports of heavy damage.

Most of the 3,000 people who left coastal fishing villages in the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan have started to return home, Talosig said.

Another 300 people have returned to villages near the slopes of Bulusan volcano in the central region, provincial disaster council head Raden Dimaano told AFP.

Authorities feared Noul’s heavy rains would trigger volcanic mud flows. Bulusan has had two minor ash explosions since May 1.

The Philippines is battered by an average of 20 storms per year, many of them deadly.

In November 2003, Super Typhoon Haiyan whipped tsunami-like waves in the central Philippines, leaving more than 7,350 people dead or missing.

Noul hovered over small northern islands on Monday after brushing the main northern island of Luzon, on its way to Japan, state weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio told AFP.

Another storm brewing in the Pacific Ocean is threatening the country and may enter Philippine waters early next week, he said.