Storm fatal to scores in south Philippines
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — A tropical storm in the southern Philippines unleashed flash floods that swept away people and houses and set off landslides, leaving more than 120 people dead and 160 others missing, officials said Saturday.
Most of the deaths from Tropical Storm Tembin, which had strengthened into a typhoon by this morning, were in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur and on the Zamboanga Peninsula, according to an initial government report on storm casualties.
The storm slammed into those areas on the eastern portion of the Philippines’ main southern island, Mindanao, late Thursday, dumping torrential rains that unleashed floods into the next day.
Romina Marasigan of the government’s disaster response agency said at least 75 deaths were attributed to landslides and sudden surges of floodwaters but added that those initial reports needed to be confirmed.
It’s the latest disaster to hit the Philippines, which is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year, making the archipelago on the Pacific typhoon belt one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
A search-and-rescue operMOSCOW
ation was underway for more than 30 people swept away by water in the fishing village of Anungan, Mayor Bong Edding of Zamboanga del Norte province’s Sibuco town said by phone. Five bodies had been found in the village.
“The floodwaters from the mountain came down so fast and swept away people and houses,” Edding said. “It’s really sad because Christmas is just a few days away, but these things happen beyond our control.”
Edding blamed the tragedy that unfolded Friday on years of logging in the mountains near Anungan, adding that he and other officials would move to halt the logging operations.
“The raging waters even uprooted coconut trees along the way from the mountains, so you can just imagine the force of the floods,” Manuel Luis Ochotorena, a regional civil defense director, said in a radio interview. “We were surprised by the extent of the damage.” He estimated that 100 houses were swept away in the village.
The rest of the deaths were reported in Lanao del Norte, where floodwaters from a mountain also swept away several riverside houses and villagers, and Lanao del Sur, police and officials said.
Lanao del Norte officials reported the highest death toll at 64 with 139 people missing, followed by Zamboanga del Norte province, where officials reported at least 29 storm deaths with 19 others missing. The storm left 21 dead and one missing in the lakeside province of Lanao del Sur, according to the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Thousands of villagers moved to emergency shelters, and thousands more were stranded in airports and seaports after the coast guard prohibited ferries from venturing out in the rough seas and several flights were canceled.
An inter-island ferry sank off northeastern Quezon province Thursday after being lashed by fierce winds and big waves, leaving at least five people dead. More than 250 passengers and crewmen were rescued.
Heavy rains caused the banks of the Cagayan de Oro River to overflow, forcing the evacuation of nearly 20,000 people. Streets turned into virtual rivers as rescuers plucked residents from their roofs.
Soldiers and emergency crews rushed to the remote village in the region of Tubod to try to save lives, said Roy Secuya, a local disaster official.
“We could not reach village officials because power and communications lines have been cut by the storm,” Secuya said.
Rodel Maghinay, a municipal development planning officer in the town of Salvador, said at least 15 villages were engulfed by mudslides and cut off from nearby communities after a steel bridge was damaged.
“These areas have remained isolated,” he said. “Floodwaters came as the Salug River system overflowed its banks. The water rose too fast.”
Rocks and boulders, some as big as cars, were washed down by flash floods that buried scores of wooden homes in the town of Piagapo, leaving at least 10 residents dead, police said.
In Cagayan de Oro city, Kim Domingo, a volunteer rescuer, said her crews used lifeboats as they went house to house Friday to rescue people. But others refused to leave their homes, she said.
“We tried hard to reach everyone,” Domingo said. “But there were many who opted to stay at home and waved us on to the next home where people needed us more.”
“We don’t know what had happened to them, but I hope to God they were OK,” she added.
Floodwaters had receded in the city by Saturday, leaving a thick sludge of mud and debris.
Tembin, known locally as Vinta, strengthened into a typhoon and picked up speed, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and gusts of up to 90 mph. It struck the southern section of western Palawan province late Saturday and is forecast to blow away from the southern Philippines today toward the South China Sea.
“It is unfortunate that another tropical cyclone, Vinta, made its presence felt so near Christmas,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said, adding that food packs and other aid were being distributed in storm-hit communities. Earlier in the week, a tropical storm left more than 50 people dead and 31 others missing, mostly because of landslides, and damaged more than 10,000 houses in the central Philippines before weakening and blowing into the South China Sea.
Among the areas battered by Tembin was Marawi, a lakeside city in Lanao del Sur that is still recovering from a fivemonth siege by pro-Islamic State extremists that left more than 1,000 people dead.