Death toll rises from floods, landslides

The death toll from flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains rose to at least 50 on Saturday in a hardhit southern Philippine province, where as many as 60 villagers remained missing.

At least 42 people were swept away by rampaging floodwaters and drowned or were hit by debris-filled mudslides in three towns in Maguindanao province from Thursday night to Friday, said Naguib Sinarimbo, the interior minister for a five-province Muslim autonomous region governed by former separatist guerrillas.

Eight other people died elsewhere in the country from the onslaught of Tropical Storm Nalgae, which slammed into the eastern province of Camarines Sur early Saturday, the government’s disaster response agency said.

The worst storm impact so far was a mudslide that buried dozens of houses with as many as 60 people in the village of Kusiong in Maguindanao’s Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Sinarimbo told the Associated Press.