MANILA, Sept 22 (AFP) Sep 22, 2008 Numerous people killed, about 2,000 displaced and ferry services suspended as Typhoon Hagupit battered the central Philippines with heavy rain, rescuers said Monday.
Heavier than usual southwest monsoon rains whipped up by the typhoon wreaked destruction across the central and southern Philippines over the weekend, forecasters said.
One person drowned and two others went missing when a boat capsized while crossing a river on the central island of Panay on Sunday, the civil defence office said.
On Saturday, three bridges were damaged and about 2,000 people were displaced on the central island of Sibuyan, it said.
Ferry services were suspended and fishing craft were barred from setting sail off the south coast of the main Philippines island of Luzon from late Sunday, the government agency said.
The typhoon, with sustained winds of up to 160 kilometres (100 miles) an hour, was now off the northern Philippines and moving toward southern China, with landfall expected there Wednesday, meteorologists said.
