Key Points

Claudio Yucot, regional director of the OCD in Bicol, said at a televised press conference that they are validating reports that four people have been casualties of the severe tropical storm.

Lord Byron Torrecarion, regional director of the OCD in Eastern Visayas in the central Philippines, reported that five fishermen from Eastern Samar province have been missing.

Torrecarion said the five went fishing last Tuesday and have yet to return as of last Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The country's state weather bureau, PAGASA, said on Friday that Bualoi was hovering in the central Philippines and was moving westward at 35 km per hour with maximum winds of 110 km per hour and gusts of up to 135 km per hour.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported on Friday that a total of 14 deaths resulted from the combined effects of the southwest monsoon and three successive tropical cyclones, including Ragasa and Bualoi, which struck the Philippines in recent weeks.

The agency reported that a total of 303,537 families, or 1,212,712 people, were affected around the country.

Bualoi is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility by Saturday afternoon.

On average, around 20 typhoons strike the Philippines annually. The archipelago is particularly vulnerable to tropical cyclones, which often bring heavy rains, flooding and strong winds, resulting in casualties and destruction of crops and properties.

Bualoi, locally named Opong, was the 15th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year. The fast-moving storm, which has a rain and wind band of about 450 kilometres (280 miles) from its centre, was blowing northwest and could blow over densely populated coastal provinces south of the capital, Manila, later Friday before entering the South China Sea.

- IANS