'Fung-wong' death toll climbs to 18

Storm making its way towards Taiwan

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Rescuers using backhoes and chainsaws began digging the Philippines out from the devastation of Typhoon Fung-wong yesterday, as floodwaters receded in hundreds of villages and the storm's death toll climbed to 18.

Fung-wong, which displaced 1.4 million people, had weakened into a severe tropical storm even as it began dumping rain on neighbouring Taiwan ahead of an expected landfall today.

It was the second major typhoon to hit the Philippines in days, after Typhoon Kalmaegi last week rampaged through the archipelago's central islands on its way to killing 232 people, according to the latest figures.

In coastal Isabela province, a town of 6,000 remained cut off from help yesterday, a civil defence spokesman told AFP, with parts of neighbouring Nueva Vizcaya province similarly isolated.