Manila cleans up after typhoon, rains kill 18
<p>Residents carry a pig through a street flooded by Typhoon Nesat in suburban San Mateo, eastern Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011. Manila residents waded through waist-deep floodwaters, dodging branches and flying debris Tuesday as the powerful typhoon sent surging waves as tall as palm trees crashing over seawalls and submerging entire neighborhoods. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)</p>
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Emergency services and residents in the Philippine capital cleaned up and restored electricity Wednesday after a powerful typhoon unleashed floodwaters that killed at least 18 people and sent huge waves crashing over seawalls.
Most deaths occurred in and around metropolitan Manila, which already was soaked by heavy monsoon rains ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Nesat, which brought more downpours and wind gusts of up to 93 miles per hour.
The typhoon blew out of the Philippines early today packing winds of 75 mph and was expected to make landfall on China's Hainan Island on Thursday evening or early Friday.
The Philippine disaster agency said 35 people were still unaccounted for and that 108 had been rescued.
Power supply was gradually restored to the downtown area, which was strewn with trash and fallen bamboo pieces washed ashore by storm surges. The Metro Rail Transit also resumed operations.
Some areas were still flooded, including Manila Ocean Park facing Manila Bay and a major thoroughfare, Taft Avenue. The nearby U.S. Embassy, which was inundated Tuesday, remained closed.
Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim said huge waves as high as coconut trees breached a 65-foot -long seawall astride a popular promenade, allowing seawater from Manila Bay to rapidly engulf hotels, a hospital, business offices and several blocks of residential areas in waist-deep floodwaters.
"This is the first time that this kind of flooding happened here," said Lim, who began his career in Manila as a tough-talking police officer decades ago.