23 missing as Typhoon Utor hits Philippines

Twenty-three people were missing Monday as Typhoon Utor struck the Philippines, with the strongest storm of the year dumping heavy rains in remote mountain villages and the densely populated capital. All of those missing were fishermen who went to sea on the east coast of the main island of Luzon, where Utor approached over the weekend, the national disaster agency chief said. The Philippines is battered by an average of 20 typhoons or storms a year, many of them deadly. The weather bureau said Utor, packing gusts of 200 kilometres (124 miles) per hour, was the strongest storm of the year. It made landfall in the mountainous north of Luzon at 3:00am on Monday (1900 GMT on Sunday). At 8:30 am, the storm was sweeping the northern province of Nueva Vizcaya and was expected to remain over the northern regions all Monday, before moving out to the South China Sea. In Manila, the nation's capital, roughly 250 kilometres (155 miles) to the south, there was heavy rain overnight but no major flooding. With more rain expected, many schools across the capital were closed on Monday.