Death toll from Christmas weekend rains climbs to 34

THE death toll from heavy rains and floods that devastated parts of the Philippines over the Christmas weekend have risen to 34 with 24 others missing, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on Thursday.

An Associated Press dispatch said more than 56,000 people were still in emergency shelters after bad weather disrupted Christmas celebrations in the eastern, central and southern Philippines.

Images from the southern province of Misamis Occidental showed rescuers carrying an elderly woman on a plastic chair as they waded through a flooded street. Some residents in the province were seen hanging on to floaters as Philippine Coast Guard rescuers pulled them across chest-deep floods using a rope.

Eighteen of the 32 deaths were reported in the Northern Mindanao region, while 22 of the 24 missing were from Eastern Visayas in the central Philippines and the eastern Bicol region, the NDRRMC said.

Most of the deaths were from drowning, while among the missing were fishermen whose boats capsized, the agency said.

Over 4,000 houses were damaged by the floods along with roads and bridges, and some areas were without power or water, the agency reported.

A shear line—the point where warm and cold air meet—triggered rains in parts of the country, the state weather bureau said. It forecast light to heavy rains in the next 24 hours for some of the same areas affected by the floods.

Meanwhile, members of the Joint Task Force Zampelan under Maj. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete are continuing to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) operations in flooded areas in Misamis Occidental.

Nafarrete said the heavy rainfall on Christmas Eve caused a landslide in Barangay Mialen, Oroquieta City, which swept away three houses and buried two individuals. Search, rescue and retrieval operations were immediately conducted which resulted in the recovery of the bodies of Mario Sambio, 70, and his daughter, Inday Calamian, 38.

The different municipalities of Misamis Occidental were also flooded due to the heavy rain. The Army’s 10th Infantry Battalion assisted local government units and Disaster Risk Reduction Management Offices in the evacuation of affected residents.

Troops transported 3,000 family food packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office Region 9 in Pagadian City to Misamis Occidental. The Emergency Response Company of the 1st Infantry Division also aided in the loading and unloading of the food packs.

“Your Armed Forces will continue to support the local government in delivering assistance and providing protection not only during manmade disasters but also during natural calamities. We are here to reach out to families most affected by the storm in Misamis Occidental through the distribution of relief packs prepared by the DSWD and Office of the Civil Defense,” Marine Brig. Gen. Arturo Rojas, acting commander of the Western Mindanao Command, assured.