Typhoon kills over 400 in southern Philippines

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines, (Reuters) – More then  400 people have been killed and hundreds more were missing after  a typhoon hit the southern Philippines, National Red Cross  Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang said today.
She said in a text message to Reuters that the death toll of  426 was expected to rise due to flash floods and landslides that  forced tens of thousands to flee from their homes.
Typhoon Washi, with winds gusting up to 90km/h (56 mph), hit   the resource-rich island of Mindanao late on Friday, bringing    heavy rain that also grounded some domestic flights and left    wide areas without power.
The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) said the death toll  was caused by flash floods in Mindanao and another island.    Soldiers and police were recovering more bodies washed ashore in   nearby towns.
“The death toll might still rise because there are still a    lot of missing people,” said Pang, adding that the hardest-hit  areas were in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.
Almost 400 people were unaccounted for, most of them from a    coastal village in Iligan. Houses were swept into the sea by    floodwaters while people were sleeping inside late on Friday.
Five miners were killed in a landslide in Monkayo on    Mindanao and another 21 people drowned on the central island of    Negros, the PNRC said.
The Philippines social welfare department said about    100,000 people were displaced and brought to more than a dozen    shelters in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.