MANILA, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- At least one person died and three others were missing as Typhoon Vamco blew closer to the southern provinces of the Philippines' main island of Luzon on Wednesday with destructive winds and torrential rain, officials have said.
The Office of Civil Defense, the state disaster management body, said that so far one has been killed while three fishermen were reported missing in Camarines Norte province, southeast of Manila.
Television footage showed that many areas in Luzon are underwater due to Typhoon Vamco, the 22nd tropical cyclone that lashed the Philippine this year.
The local media also reported a landslide in Albay province and rockslide in Catanduanes, an island province in the Bicol region barrelled by Super Typhoon Goni early this month.
Mayor Joseling Aguas of Sto. Domingo town in Albay province in the Bicol region said the rain from the recent typhoons caused the soil and rock to cascade down and blocked the road leading to four villages.
Typhoon Vamco slammed the Philippines as relief workers scramble to help hungry villagers rendered homeless by Goni.
The Philippines evacuated thousands in the coastal villages due to possible storm surge and flash flood.
PAGASA, the state weather bureau, said Typhoon Vamco is packing sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 195 kilometers per hour.
Philippine officials urged people to be vigilant, warning the typhoon will bring "destructive winds and intense with at times torrential rainfall" in vast areas in Luzon, including Metro Manila, the Bicol region, the provinces of Aurora and Quezon, and parts of Eastern Samar province in the central Philippines.
Vamco continues to move westward at 15 kilometers per hour, the bureau said in its latest bulletin.
It is forecast to make landfall in Polillo Island in Quezon province on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.
Typhoon Vamco blew into the country 11 days after Super Typhoon Goni, one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country this year, left a trail of destruction and killed at least 22.
Vamco pummels the same areas battered by Goni.
Three other tropical cyclones hit the Philippines after Goni.
Typhoons and tropical storms regularly hit the Philippines from June through December, claiming hundreds of lives and cause billions of dollars in damages.
Located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world, including active volcanoes, frequent earthquakes, and an average of 20 typhoons a year, causing floods and landslides.
The Philippines lost 463 billion pesos (roughly 9.56 billion U.S. dollars) in damages to natural disasters from 2010 to 2019, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. Enditem
