Rescuers search for dozens missing after Philippine storm
MANILA — A tropical storm which battered the Philippines on Saturday has left at least 26 people dead and 46 others missing, a government spokesperson said on Monday.
Romina Marasigan of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in a news conference that most of the people died in at least 17 landslides that hit Biliran, Leyte, Eastern Samar and Sama provinces in the central Philippines, triggered by tropical storm Kai-Tak.
“The causes of deaths were mostly from landslides and drowning,” she said, adding that some of the missing people were from Romblon, a province which is also in the central Philippines.
Heavy rain triggered floods and landslides in many areas in the center of the country when the tropical storm the Philippines at the weekend, according to NDRRMC.
At least 1,200 tourists were also stuck in Boracay Island, the tourist hot spot, which was also flooded.
Councilor Nanette AguirreGraf of Malay town said the Philippine coast guard suspended ferry services when the storm signal was raised in the region.
The Malay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that 90 percent of Boracay has been hit by floodwaters.
Many flights and ferry travels were canceled as a result of the tropical storm.
Meanwhile, rescuers used bulldozers to dig through mountains of mud to search for the missing as Kai-Tak continued to drag its way westward across the country on Monday.
Most of the dead were in the island province of Biliran, which suffered the worst of the landslides, with many homes buried.
Rescuers searching for survivors on the island were not optimistic.
“There is an assumption that the missing are already dead,” Sofronio Dacillo, a provincial disaster risk reduction and management officer told AFP.
The largely agricultural island of Biliran, with a population of over 140,000, also suffered massive damage to its roads, bridges and power system, which was knocked out at the weekend.
Electricity supply is not expected to be restored until Wednesday, said Dacillo.
“It was like two months of rain fell on one day in Biliran. And because of this, the soil really softened and that is also why so many bridges were destroyed,” said President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque.
Duterte is due to visit Biliran later on Monday to inspect the damage and rescue efforts, said Roque.
Kai-Tak’s winds were not very powerful, but its slow movement across the central islands unleashed heavy rains over a long period, flooding large areas.
Many of the islands hit by Kai-Tak also bore the brunt of Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing.
The government expects the storm to move away from the Philippines on Tuesday.
It was like two months of rain fell on one day in Biliran. And because of this, the soil really softened ...” Harry Roque,