[Reuters]

Published date: 13th Aug 1987

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13 August 1987 

Reuters News 

English 

(c) 1987 Reuters Limited 

MANILA, Aug 13, Reuter – Typhoon Betty slammed into the central Philippines today, killing a boy, blowing down power lines and damaging crops, but the weather office said the storm was veering away from Manila. 

 A spokesman for the Philippine Red Cross said a six-year-old boy died in Laguna, south of Manila, when he was hit by a falling coconut tree early this morning. 

Officials said the “super typhoon”, dubbed Herming locally, uprooted power lines in Cavite province near the capital, causing black-outs in three towns. 

Amado Pineda, a forecaster at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services 

Administration, told Reuters wind-speeds generated by Betty had dropped to about 185 km (115 miles) an hour from a maximum last night of about 260 km (160 miles) an hour. 

Pineda said at 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) the typhoon was 130 km (80 miles) west of the capital and heading out over the South China Sea. It was expected to hit Vietnam early on Saturday. 

Ed Abcede, mayor of Lucena, capital of Quezon province on the main island of Luzon, told a radio station the typhoon had caused heavy destruction to crops, fruit and coconut trees. 

Abcede appealed on radio to government relief agencies for emergency supplies of food. He said several houses in the city had also been smashed by the storm, adding that there were so far no reports of casualties. 

In the eastern coastal region of Bicol, where Betty first hit yesterday, military authorities in Albay province broadcast warnings to residents of the danger of mudslides from the slopes of the still-active Mayon volcano. 

“The typhoon has passed Manila’s longitude and is moving away, but it is still very close, enough to affect some provinces of central and southern Luzon,” Pineda said. 

Pineda said the typhoon closely missed Legaspi, where about 500 families were evacuated yesterday as the storm approached. 

The worst-hit areas were the Visayas region, southern Luzon, and the islands of Masbate, Romblon and Mindoro. 

Pineda said storm trackers had feared Betty would wreak as much havoc as Typhoon Ike, known as Nitang locally, which smashed into the Philippines in September 1984, causing damage valued at 200 million dollars and killing 1,353 people. 

“But the worst is over and the Philippines is safe,” he added.