Landslides kill 4 as Typhoon Nuri lashes the northern Philippines; alerts issued, schools shut

MANILA, Philippines -- Landslides killed three young brothers and an elderly woman in the northern Philippines as a powerful typhoon battered the region Wednesday, prompting authorities to cancel classes and raise storm alerts.

Typhoon Nuri skirted the northeastern tip of Cagayan province, on the main island of Luzon, with gusts of up to 106 mph (170 kph), but its outer bands engulfed most of the mountainous northern provinces.

Chief weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said Nuri was a powerful system that likely would gain strength as it moved across Babuyan and Calayan islands in the Luzon Strait toward Hong Kong and Guangdong in eastern China.

He said the typhoon was enhancing monsoon rains and that strong winds would continue until Thursday morning.

In the capital, Manila, officials canceled classes as heavy rains flooded streets.

The Office of Civil Defense in the northern Cordillera region said a mountainside house in Itogon township in Benguet province was buried by a landslide that killed three brothers aged 1, 3 and 10 years.

Another landslide in Itogon killed a 72-year-old woman in her kitchen earlier in the day, said civil defense operations chief Alex Uy. Itogon is about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of Manila.

In Baguio city, north of Itogon, a 21-year-old woman was rescued and revived after she was buried under the rubble of her landslide-struck house.

Public works officials said landslides and boulders were being cleared from a scenic mountain road to Baguio and from a highway to the region's main vegetable growing area.

A typhoon in June killed more than 500 people across the Philippines, along with more than 850 passengers and crew of a ferry that capsized off central Sibuyan island.

Taiwan issued a typhoon warning Tuesday for ships traveling through its southern waters. If Nuri stays on its current course, the island could be affected Thursday morning, the Central Weather Bureau said.

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 Landslides kill 4 as Typhoon Nuri lashes the northern Philippines; alerts issued, schools shut 
A man carries his bicycle as he joins students in crossing flooded streets in suburban Malabon, north of Manila, Philippines on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008. Typhoon Nuri packing winds of 87 miles (140 kilometers) per hour battered the northern Philippines with heavy rains, closing schools and putting authorities on alert for flash floods and landslides. (AP)

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