47 dead, dozens missing in Philippines – NBC10 Philadelphia

Floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains have killed at least 47 people, including in a hard-hit southern Philippine province where 60 villagers are missing and buried by rainwater, mud, rocks and trees, officials said Saturday.

At least 42 people were swept away by floodwaters and drowned or injured by debris-covered mudslides in three towns in Maguindanao province between Thursday night and early Friday, said Naguib Sinnarimba, the interior minister of the five-province Muslim autonomous region, which is run by former separatist guerrillas.

Five more people were killed elsewhere as Tropical Storm Nalgaye hit the eastern province of Camarines Sur early Saturday, the government’s disaster response agency said.

But the storm’s worst impact so far was a landslide loaded with rainwater, rocks and trees that buried dozens of houses with as many as 60 people in the Kushiong tribal village in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao, Sinarimba told The Associated Press by phone, citing reports from villagers. Kusiong who survived the flash flood and landslide.

Eleven bodies, mostly children, were dug up by rescuers using shovels in Kusiong on Friday, he said.

“This community will be our focal point today,” Sinarimba said, adding that heavy equipment and additional rescuers, including the army, police and volunteers, had been deployed to step up search and rescue efforts.

The coastal village, which lies at the foot of the mountain, is accessible by road, allowing more rescuers to be sent on Saturday to deal with one of the worst weather-related disasters to hit the south of the country in decades, he said.

Citing reports from mayors, governors and disaster response officials, Sinnarimba said 27 people died, mostly from drowning and landslides in Datu Odin Sinsuat town, 10 in Datu Bla Sinsuat town and five in Cheers, everyone in Maguindanao.

The death toll of 67 in Maguindanao on Friday night was withdrawn by authorities after the discovery of double counting of the victims.

Army officials also reported at least 42 deaths from the storm in Maguindanao and said in a statement late Friday that their forces “continue to rescue those trapped by the flood in cooperation with local disaster response teams” and evacuate displaced persons on army trucks to evacuation camps.

Unusually heavy rains flooded several towns in Maguindanao and outlying provinces in a mountainous region with swampy plains. Floodwaters rose quickly in many low-lying villages, forcing some residents to climb onto rooftops, where they were rescued by army troops, police and volunteers, Sinarimba said.

The Coast Guard released pictures of its rescuers wading through chest-high floodwaters to save the elderly and children in Maguindanao. Many of the wetlands haven’t flooded in years, including the town of Cotabato, where Sinarimba said his house was flooded.

Stormy weather across much of the country prompted the coast guard to ban sea travel in dangerously rough seas as millions of Filipinos planned to travel over the long weekend to visit the graves of relatives and reunite with families on All Saints’ Day in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. Several domestic flights were also cancelled, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

The broad rain bands of Nalgae, the 16th storm to hit the Philippine archipelago this year, allowed it to dump rainfall in the south of the country even as the storm blew further north, said government forecaster Sam Duran.

Dozens of provinces and cities have been issued storm warnings, including the capital Manila, which could be directly affected by the storm on Saturday, Vicente Manalo, who heads the government’s weather agency, told the AP.

More than 7,000 people have been safely evacuated away from the path of the storm, which is not expected to become a typhoon as it approaches land, government forecasters and other officials said.

About 20 typhoons and storms hit the Philippine archipelago every year. It is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region along much of the Pacific Rim that experiences numerous volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, making the country one of the most disaster-prone in the world.