Typhoon Rains Kill Six in Philippines

Storm winds at the periphery of the typhoon system have been lashing the central Philippines for the past three days.

Heavy rain from an approaching typhoon lashed the Philippines on Sunday, killing at least six people and destroying homes and rice paddies, officials said.

Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters six people were killed in the Bicol region of the central Philippines by rain from Typhoon Mitag, including two who were electrocuted.

About 1,000 hectares of rice fields and many roads were innundated and scores of houses destroyed.

Mitag, packing winds of 160 km per hour (100 miles per hour) at its centre, was slowly moving northwest and poised to make landfall late on Sunday night in the northern provinces of Aurora and Isabela, weather officials said.

But storm winds at the periphery of the typhoon system have been lashing the central Philippines for the past three days.

On Saturday, the military ordered the suspension of offensive operations against communist rebels to free up troops for relief operations.

Thousands of people were being evacuated from coastal areas of Aurora and Isabela after Mitag, which was earlier poised to hit Bicol, changed course and veered north.

Disaster officials had evacuated more than 290,000 people from their homes in Bicol, where volcanic mud from the slopes of Mount Mayon can trigger lethal landslides. Tens of thousands were allowed to return home after Mitag changed course, but thousands of others were being evacuated from the northern provinces.

Mitag (a woman's name, pronounced Me-tok, from Yap in the Pacific Ocean) is expected to cut through the northern part of the main Philippines island of Luzon before passing into the South China Sea on Tuesday.

Storms regularly hit the Philippines and authorities hope to avoid a repeat of last year's devastating Typhoon Durian, which killed 1,200 and left 120,000 homeless when it crashed through Bicol.