MANILA, December 31 (Reuters) – Typhoon Rai, which devastated central and southern Philippines, claimed more than 400 lives, the national disaster management agency reported on Friday.
Typhoon Rai is the fifteenth deadliest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year.
Ricardo Jalad, head of the national disaster management agency, told a press conference that 405 people had died, mainly by drowning, after falling trees or landslides. He added that 82 people were missing and 1,147 others were injured.
More than 530,000 homes were damaged by the typhoon and a third of them were totally destroyed. Damage to infrastructure and agriculture is estimated at 459 million dollars (405 million euros).
Nearly 4.5 million people were affected by the typhoon and about 500,000 of them took refuge in evacuation centers, according to government data.
(Report Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema; French version Camille Raynaud)