Philippines: cities submerged by storm “Trami”, death toll rises to more than 60

The death toll from tropical storm “Trami”, which submerged several cities in the Philippines, rose to more than 60 deaths on Friday, according to an AFP count based on official local figures.

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A previous report reported around forty deaths.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by flooding caused by torrential rains. Some regions recorded rainfall equivalent to two months in the space of two days.

“Many (residents) are still stuck on the roof of their houses and asking for help,” Andre Dizon, the police director of the hard-hit Bicol region, 400 kilometers to the east, told AFP. south of Manila.

“We hope the floods subside today, since the rain has stopped,” he said.

Water saturated soils

Accessibility remains a major problem for rescuers, President Ferdinand Marcos said at a news conference. “There have been landslides in areas where there weren’t any before… So I guess the ground is completely saturated and the water has nowhere to go.”

The towns of Naga and Legazpi report “numerous victims, but we have not yet been able to go there,” Mr. Marcos said.

In Laurel, a picturesque town near the volcanic Taal Lake south of the capital Manila, AFP journalists saw roads blocked by felled trees, vehicles half-submerged in mud and homes badly damaged by mud. flash floods.

“We saw washing machines, cars, household equipment, roofs swept away,” resident Mimie Dionela, 56, told AFP.

“We are lucky that (the rain) fell in the morning, because many would have died if it had fallen during the night,” she added. “It’s amazing how scared we were.”

After the storm departed from the Philippines early Friday morning towards the South China Sea, more casualties were reported.

In Batangas province, south of Manila, the number of confirmed deaths more than doubled to 34, police told a local radio Friday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, police chief sergeant Nelson Cabuso told AFP that six unidentified bodies had been found in the village of Sampaloc, in this province.

Five more people were killed in a flash flood in the coastal village of Subic Ilaya, according to police Corporal Alvin de Leon,

Police in the Bicol region also reported a total of 28 deaths on Friday, while two more bodies were found in Quezon province, one in Zambales province and one in Masbate province.

193,000 people evacuated

According to an AFP count based on figures from the police and disaster management officials, the toll from the storm now exceeds sixty deaths.

In Manila, a housing estate south of the capital was largely submerged.

Schools and government offices remained closed on Friday on the main island of Luzon, and storm warnings were still in effect on the west coast, where waves could reach two meters.

According to an official count from Thursday, 193,000 people were evacuated due to the floods.

The Philippines is regularly hit by storms or typhoons, causing damage and dozens of deaths each year. But storms in the Asia-Pacific region are forming closer to shore, intensifying faster and lasting longer on land due to climate change, experts say.