At Least 1,000 Dead In Philippines Flooding, Mudlslides - Reuters

REAL - "A typhoon slammed into the Philippines' eastern coast on Thursday night, threatening to worsen floods and landslides that have left more than 1,000 people dead or missing.

Residents of three coastal towns that suffered most of the casualties from heavy rains this week fled to higher ground to escape Typhoon Nanmadol's rains and 185 kph (115 mph) winds. "Based on reports from our troops in the field, they have listed 479 dead and 560 missing in three towns in Quezon province," said military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Buenaventura Pascual.

With helicopters grounded and roads cut, disaster officials said they could do little to protect thousands of people who had lost their homes and were running out of food and drinking water.

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Illegal logging was blamed for exacerbating the disaster in which the three towns about 80 km (50 miles) east of Manila were devastated by a torrent of mud and logs from nearby mountains. Disaster officials said 37,400 families, or 168,000 people, had been affected across the main northern island of Luzon. The agriculture department said this week's storm and two others that hit the northern and central Philippines last month had caused an estimated 830 million pesos ($14.7 million) in damage to crops, livestock and fisheries. Soliman said the government, deep in debt and struggling to cut its budget deficit, would have to spend 90 percent of the 1 billion pesos it sets aside annually for disaster relief."

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