Burst dike leaves Filipino farmers under water

Aliaga, Philippines: Filipino farmer Ferdinand Pascua faces financial ruin after heavy rain brought by Typhoon Man yi sent torrents of water down a ri...

Aliaga, Philippines: Filipino farmer Ferdinand Pascua faces financial ruin after heavy rain brought by Typhoon Man-yi sent torrents of water down a river near his shanty, bursting through an earthen dike and inundating land he has tilled for a decade.

Man-yi was a super typhoon when it slammed into the Philippines over the weekend -- the sixth major storm to hit the archipelago nation in the past month.

Pascua's farm in Aliaga municipality, three hours drive north of Manila, was not in Man-yi's path, but the nearby Talavera river brought the storm right to his door on Sunday.

"We heard the water's huge roar and the sound of collapsing earth," Pascua, 38, told AFP on Tuesday as he hauled wet clothes across knee-deep mud in his front yard.

"We were worried and in shock. I took my children to my parents' home and returned to retrieve our stuff."