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29 March 2024

Philippines storm toll rises to 200: officials

Published
By AFP

The death toll from tropical storm Washi rose to 180 on Saturday with more than 400 others missing after widespread flash floods in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Regional military spokesmen told reporters 97 bodies were recovered in Cagayan de Oro, a major port on Mindanao island, and 75 were found in Iligan, a nearby southern port, accounting for most of the deaths.

They said 375 people were still missing from the two cities alone.

Colonel Leopoldo Galon told reporters army troops using trucks, boats, and helicopters had rescued at least 2,000 residents of Cagayan de Oro.

Civil defence director Benito Ramos, the head of the disaster council, said a second army division was deployed in Iligan, a nearby port which reported 40 deaths, and nearby areas.

He told reporters floodwaters rose with alarming speed late Friday as people slept.

Although residents had been warned of the approaching storm, some apparently dismissed the dangers of flash floods and landslides because -- unlike the rest of the archipelago -- most of Mindanao is rarely hit by storms.

"Complacency apparently set in," Ramos said.

All but five of the confirmed deaths were victims of flash floods, he said. The five others were buried in a landslide in the island's mountainous east.

The Philippines is hit by about 20 storms and typhoons each year, most hitting the north of the country.

The storm is expected to slam into the western island of Palawan on Saturday night after crossing across the Sulu Sea with peak winds of 75 kilometres (46.6 miles) an hour, the state weather service said.