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The death toll from Severe Tropical Storm Bualoi rose to 11 in the Philippines on Saturday as the cyclone bore down on Vietnam, authorities said. Bualoi battered small islands in the centre of the Philippines on Friday, toppling trees and power pylons, ripping roofs off homes, unleashing floods and forcing 400,000 people to evacuate. Among the worst hit was the tiny island of Biliran, where eight people died and two were missing, provincial disaster official Noel Lungay said by telephone. “There was widespread flooding and some roads remained under water early today,” he said. “Evacuees are starting to return to their homes as the weather improves.” The office of civil defence in Manila earlier reported three other deaths on the nearby islands of Masbate and Ticao, including two people crushed by a tree and a wall that were brought down by the strong winds. Fourteen people remain missing across the central Philippines, it said without providing details, while more than 200,000 remained inside evacuation centres across the storm’s path. Bualoi came on the heels of Super Typhoon Ragasa that killed 14 people across the northern Philippines. The tropical storm was tearing across the South China Sea towards Vietnam on Saturday with typhoon-strength winds of 120km/h (75mph), the Philippines’ state weather service said. The Vietnamese government said the fast-moving storm would hit the country’s northern and central coast on Monday, triggering torrential rain. “Heavy rains could cause serious flooding in low-lying areas, as well as urban and industrial areas,” the national weather agency said in a statement on Friday. The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, routinely striking disaster-prone areas where millions of people live in poverty. Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to the effects of human-driven climate change. The storms come as the Philippine public seethes over a scandal involving bogus flood control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Thousands took to the streets on Sunday to vent their anger, with the peaceful demonstrations later overshadowed by street battles that saw police vehicles set ablaze, and the windows of a precinct headquarters shattered. Additional reporting by Reuters
