Rescuers Battle Strong Typhoon Lashing Southern Philippines

Rescuers Battle Strong Typhoon Lashing Southern Philippines
Rescuers assist residents over floodwaters caused by Typhoon Rai as they are evacuated to higher ground in Cagayan de Oro City, southern Philippines, on Dec. 16, 2021. Philippine Coast Guard via AP
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MANILA, Philippines—A powerful typhoon slammed into the southeastern Philippines on Thursday, toppling trees, ripping tin roofs, and knocking down power as it blew across island provinces where nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated.

Coast guard personnel were rescuing residents stranded by chest-deep waters in a southern province, where pounding rains swamped villages in brownish water. In southern Cagayan de Oro city, footage showed two rescuers struggling to keep a month-old baby inside a laundry basin above the waters and shielded from the wind and rain with an umbrella.