PHILIPPINE FLOODS TAKE HEAVY TOLL

Floods that swamped towns and villages across the central Philippines, sweeping away thousands of homes, have killed at least 2,230 people, rescue officials said yesterday.Aurora Laboy, an official with the provincial disaster coordinating council in Tacloban, capital of Leyte province, said the town of Ormoc was the worst hit where at least 2,000 people died. Ormoc is 340 miles southeast of the Philippine capital, Manila.