Death toll in Philippines floods, landslides rises to at least 122 (UPDATE)

Al Jazeera
Mon, 31 Dec 2018 10:48 UTC

© Robert Balidoy

A destroyed house after a tropical depression hit Daet, in Camarines Norte

Authorities warn number of victims to increase as thousands are forced from their homes by the bad weather.

The death toll from flash floods and landslides caused by torrential rains due to a tropical depression in the eastern Philippines has jumped to at least 68, officials have said, warning that the number of fatalities will climb even higher.

Fifty-seven of the victims were reported in the eastern region of Bicol, located south of the main island of Luzon, civil defence officials said on Monday. Eleven others died in the nearby region of Eastern Visayas.

Twelve people were also injured in various accidents in the two regions most affected by the rains even days before the tropical depression - known locally as Usman - made landfall in Eastern Samar province on Saturday.

"I am afraid this (death toll) will still go up because there are a lot of areas we still have to clear," said Claudio Yucot, Bicol civil defence director.

More than 22,000 people were displaced by the bad weather, which also knocked out electricity in many of the affected areas, regional civil defence officials said.

Search and rescue operations were ongoing for the missing, while emergency teams were also clearing some roads and bridges made impassable by landslides and floods.

Meanwhile, thousands of passengers were stranded at seaports, airports and bus terminals as dozens of inter-island trips were cancelled.

© Robert Balidoy

Pedestrians and vehicles move along a flooded street in Daet

The tropical depression weakened into a low-pressure area, but was continuing to bring heavy rains over the eastern provinces, enhanced by a cold front and the northeast monsoon, the weather bureau said.

The bad weather would also affect the capital, Manila, and other parts of the country, which could dampen usually rowdy New Year's Eve celebrations.

Each year, the Philippines is struck by an average of 20 cyclones causing floods, landslides and other accidents.

One of the strongest in recent memory, Typhoon Haiyan, hit the country in November 2013, killing more than 6,300 people and displacing more four million others.

Comment: Update:The Philippine Star on January 3 reports:

The death toll from Tropical Depression Usman in Bicol, the Visayas and Southern Tagalog has reached 87, with 20 others missing, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported yesterday.

NDRRMC spokesman Edgar Posadas said the figures are still subject to validation by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)'s Management of the Dead and the Missing (MDM).

Posadas said Usman also directly affected 45,348 families or 191,597 people from 457 barangays in Bicol, Eastern Samar and the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon (Calabarzon) region, as well as in Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan (Mimaropa).

Vice President Leni Robredo visits Barangay Patitinan in Sagñay, Camarines Sur yesterday to check the extent of damage in the area following a landslide.

Update: The Gulf Today on January 3
reports:

The death toll from landslides and floods in the eastern Philippines has climbed to 122 as emergency teams reach isolated areas and recover more bodies, officials said Thursday.

According to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, DPA, quoted civil defence and disaster risk reduction officials as saying that nearly 30 people were still reported missing in the affected areas in the eastern regions of Bicol and Eastern Visayas.

The tropical depression was the last and deadliest cyclone to hit the Philippines in 2018. Previously, Typhoon Mangkhut was considered the deadliest, killing more than 80 people in September.

Nearly 25,000 people were displaced by the landslides and floods, the national disaster risk reduction office said.