The third typhoon to hit the Philippines in five weeks slammed into the main island of Luzon today, leaving 11 people dead and at least six others missin.
The typhoon hit Manila and southern Luzon island, knocking out power, washing away bridges and toppling trees before weakening and moving west of the toward the South China Sea.
The typhoon coincided with the All-Saints' weekend, when many Filipinos travel to their home provinces in the archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.
Holidaymakers visit cemeteries to pay respects to their ancestors during the three-day weekend. The Philippines has been battered by more than 10 cyclones this year. More than 121,000 people remain in evacuation centres in the wake of cyclones Ketsana and Parma in the past month.
Thousands of people were stranded in ports and bus stations as flooding closed some provincial roads.
Authorities cancelled about 180 flights from Manila while some ferry and bus services remained grounded, leaving thousands stranded and stopping people from returning to their home provinces for the All Saints' Day weekend.
Two typhoons killed more than 900 people in recent weeks, with parts of the capital, Manila, still under water.
The rainfall was not as heavy as had been feared, especially along the densely populated west coast of Luzon where floods from Typhoon Ketsana late last month killed more than 400 people.
A spokesman for the national police said emergency teams had started clearing roads of uprooted trees and debris, adding some areas in and around Manila were without electricity.
Radio reports, quoting local and disaster officials, said a man died while crossing a stream in Rizal province east of the capital and another drowned when his shanty home was washed away in Manila.
Agencies