BAGUIO, Philippines — A typhoon hit the Philippines' most populous island Wednesday, killing at least 14 people in landslides and freak accidents and plunging dozens of towns into darkness.
Typhoon Utor, which also skirted southeast Taiwan leaving seven fishermen missing, was headed toward the China coast and was forecast to be threatening Hong Kong by Thursday afternoon.
The Philippine weather bureau placed a wide area of Luzon island, including the capital Manila, under a storm alert as Utor pummeled the island with winds gusting up to 105 miles per hour.
Seventeen landslides hit the mountain resort city of Baguio in northern Luzon, burying dozens of houses, killing at least nine people and leaving two missing, relief officials said.
"Several of those killed were children and reports are still coming in...There were 86 families in the houses affected by the landslides but we rescued most of them," Baguio vice-mayor Lourdes Tabanda told Reuters.
Two others killed in Baguio, a city of 185,000 people, were an army colonel and a companion who were crushed to death when a tree uprooted by heavy winds fell on their car in almost zero visibility, officials said.
"We have had no electricity the whole day and it is hampering rescue operations...We are using generators," Tabanda said.
More than 1,200 Baguio residents abandoned their homes as floodwaters rose neck deep in places.
One person drowned in Ilocos Norte province while another was was electrocuted in Cagayan, relief officials said.
Another person drowned when a small inter-island ferry capsized in heavy seas in central Iloilo province. The coast guard said it had rescued the boat's 31 other passengers and four crew.
In separate incidents, 13 people were injured when two tornadoes damaged more than 70 houses in two other provinces.
The typhoon knocked out power and communication lines in Pangasinan and La Union provinces, affecting dozens of towns. It also unleashed floods in low-lying districts in metropolitan Manila but there were no casualties in the capital.
The typhoon struck rice-growing areas but appeared to have largely spared the coconut-producing Bicol region south of Manila. There were no immediate reports of the extent of damage to agricultural crops or to transport infrastructure, the civil defense office said.
"Our people are still in the field and we have no assessment yet of damage to agriculture or to property," civil defense media officer Precy Merecidio told Reuters.
The weather bureau said Utor made landfall Wednesday afternoon in northern Cagayan province and was moving northwest in the general direction of southern China.
In Taiwan, the storm flooded houses and farms in coastal areas in southeastern Taiwan. The government evacuated residents living in inundated areas, officials said.
The disaster center said 449 ships, including many from China, operating nearby had sought safety in Taiwan harbors.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 typhoons a year.