13 Killed, 200,000 Flee Homes as Storm Lashes at Philippines

At least 13 people died and 200,000 fled to safer ground during floods and heavy rains spawned by a tropical storm in the capital and surrounding provinces, officials said Saturday.

Manila Weather Bureau officials said the storm late Saturday was located 345 miles east of Aparri on the northern tip of the main Luzon island, with peak winds of 40 m.p.h.

The military Office of Civil Defense said 13 people were killed by flooding in the capital, either by drowning or being pinned by a wall that collapsed at the height of the rains.

The Social Welfare Department said more than 200,000 people in the capital and in the rice-producing provinces of Tarlac and Bulacan, north of Manila, sought refuge in evacuation centers.

Most of the evacuees were from metropolitan Manila slum districts, relief agency officials said.

Weather forecasters said the storm unleashed heavy rains that combined with high tide in the afternoon to create one of the worst floods in recent years.

Thousands of commuters were stranded and hundreds of workers and students slept in their offices and schools as transport drivers refused to ply flooded streets.

Also Saturday, suspected rebel soldiers seeking to overthrow President Corazon Aquino exploded a bomb at a Toyota sales office in the capital’s financial district, damaging six cars but causing no injuries, police said.

The blast was the 11th in the capital since rebel soldiers announced Aug. 15 that they would resume hostilities after Aquino rejected their call for a cease-fire in the face of the devastating July 16 earthquake and the Persian Gulf crisis.