​Storm causes floods, knocks out power in north Philippines

Baku. 5 Jule. REPORT.AZ/ A tropical storm blew across the northern Philippines on Sunday, causing floods and power outages in several towns and prompting rescue teams to scramble to evacuate villagers in low-lying communities.

Report informs citing foreign press, there were no immediate reports of casualties from slow-moving Tropical Storm Linfa, which set off minor landslides in at least two mountainous provinces, officials said.

The storm, which had sustained winds of 85 kilometers (53 miles) per hour and gusts of 100 kph (62 mph), was expected to start blowing away from the country on Monday, according to government forecasters.

Melchito Castro, a regional disaster-response agency chief, said the hardest-hit area was La Union province, where 11 towns were swamped in floodwaters that stranded villagers in their homes. The entire province lost power as the storm lashed, he said.

"There's massive flooding here in La Union," Castro said, adding that the pounding rain caused about three rivers to swell.

Rainwater also cascaded down from a mountain range and swamped La Union, a coastal province of about 800,000 people, officials said.