Typhoon Mangkhut: Search on for people missing in landslide
ITOGON: The death toll in Typhoon Mangkhut hit 74 on Tuesday, Philippine authorities said, as rescuers used their bare hands to sift through a massive landslide in which dozens were feared killed in the worst-hit region.
The typhoon, the most powerful to strike this year, smashed homes and flooded key agricultural regions in the northern Philippines before battering Hong Kong and southern China with fierce winds and heavy rain.
As Hong Kong gradually got back on its feet, residents from teachers to refugees mobilised to help clean up after Mangkhut, which smashed windows, felled at least 1,000 trees and sent skyscrapers swaying.
The violent storm killed four in China’s southern province of Guangdong and the toll rose Tuesday to 74 on the Philippines’ northern Luzon island according to police.
Up to 40 people are still feared buried in the landslide in Itogon unleashed on Saturday as the typhoon stalled over the area and dumped a month’s worth of rain in a matter of hours.
“While I said there is a 99% chance that all of them are dead, there is still that 1% chance,” Itogon mayor Victorio Palangdan told AFP. “The rescue effort will continue until the president orders us to stop,” he said.
RISING FLOOD WATERS MENACE EASTERN U.S.
Residents of the US states North and South Carolina struggled to return to normalcy on Tuesday after taking a beating from Hurricane Florence, but those efforts were hindered by standing water and the anticipation of more flooding from swollen rivers.
At least 32 people have been killed since Florence came ashore as a hurricane on Friday, including 25 in North Carolina and six in South Carolina. One person was killed when at least 16 tornadoes developed from Florence on Monday in Virginia, where dozens of buildings were destroyed, the National Weather Service reported.
Estimates of damage from the storm ranged as high as $22 billion. The weather service said the storm had dumped more than 30 trillion liters of rain on North Carolina.