At least 12 dead as Typhoon Mangkhut lashes Philippines

Manila - Mangkhut's winds weakened to 170 kilometers (105 miles) per hour.

An official says Typhoon Mangkhut has left at least 12 people dead in the northern Philippines, mostly in landslides and houses that got pummeled by the storm's fierce winds and rain.

Presidential adviser Francis Tolentino says the dead included an infant and another child who were among four people killed in a landslide in Nueva Vizcaya, one of several provinces battered by the typhoon on Saturday.

Tolentino says that at least two other people are missing and that the death toll could climb to 16 once other casualty reports are verified.

He says about 87,000 people have been evacuated from high-risk areas and advised not to return home until the danger has passed.

Mangkhut slammed ashore before dawn Saturday in Cagayan province in the northeast and is on target to hit southern China on Sunday.
Earlier, two women were reported killed Saturday in a landslide set off by Super Typhoon Mangkhut, according to the Philippine police.
Officers in the city of Baguio recovered the women's bodies from the soil and rubble after a hillside collapsed from the typhoon's heavy rains, said police Superintendent Pilita Tacio.
Mangkhut tore through the northern part of Luzon island, where it made landfall in the pre-dawn darkness, ripping off roofs, felling trees and knocking out power.
The area is home to around 10 million people, many of whom live in flimsy wooden shelters.
As the powerful storm left the Southeast Asian archipelago and barrelled towards densely populated Hong Kong and southern China, search teams in the Philippines began surveying the provinces that suffered a direct hit.
"We believe there has been a lot of damage," said Social Welfare Secretary Virginia Orogo as thousands of evacuees took refuge in emergency shelters.
Mangkhut was packing sustained winds of 170 kilometres (105 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 260 km per hour as it left the Philippines.
An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of people and leaving millions in near-perpetual poverty.
Thousands of people fled their homes in high-risk areas ahead of the storm's arrival because of major flooding and landslide risks.
In Taiwan, a woman was swept away by high waves caused by the typhoon, the government said.
Residents had started lashing down their roofs and gathering supplies days before the arrival of the storm.
"Among all the typhoons this year, this one (Mangkhut) is the strongest," Japan Meteorological Agency forecaster Hiroshi Ishihara told AFP on Friday.
"This is a violent typhoon. It has the strongest sustained wind (among the typhoons of this year)."
After blasting the Philippines, Mangkhut is predicted to hurtle towards China's heavily populated southern coast this weekend.
"They (authorities) said this typhoon is twice as strong as the last typhoon, that's why we are terrified," Myrna Parallag, 53, told AFP after fleeing her home in the northern Philippines.
"We learned our lesson last time. The water reached our roof," she said, referring to when her family rode out a typhoon at home in 2016.
The country's deadliest on record is Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in November 2013.
Poor communities reliant on fishing are some of the most vulnerable to fierce typhoon winds and the storm surges that pound the coast.
"The rains will be strong and the winds are no joke... We may have a storm surge that could reach four storeys high," Michael Conag, a spokesman for local civil defence authorities, told AFP.
As the storm heads for China's southern coast, Cathay Pacific airline said it expects more than 400 flight cancellations over the next three days.
The Hong Kong government said Mangkhut will pose "a severe threat to the region" as many residents in the city and neighbouring Macau stocked up on food and supplies 
The president of neighbouring Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, pushed citizens to be ready.
"The typhoon is powerful and even it's not expected to make a landfall in Taiwan, we should be well prepared and not... take it lightly," she wrote on Facebook.