At least 23 people died in landslides and floods, police said on Monday. Baybay City in Leyte Province, almost 600 kilometers south-east of the capital Manila, was particularly hard hit. There alone, 20 bodies were recovered after dozens of houses were buried under masses of earth
That said local police chief Joemen Collado, who also reported deaths in the southern provinces of Davao Oriental and Davao De Oro. It is unclear how many citizens are currently missing, Collado emphasized. “Currently there are six, but probably more.”
The tropical storm “Megi”, called “Agaton” in the Philippines, hit the east coast of the island state on Sunday with gusts of up to 105 kilometers per hour. According to civil protection, it has already forced more than 17,000 people to flee. Shipping traffic was suspended and more than 1,100 people were stranded in various ports in the country. The storm has since weakened, it said.
The Philippines are hit by an average of about 20 typhoons each year. The worst storm to date, Haiyan, claimed the lives of more than 6,300 people in November 2013. At the end of last year, typhoon “Rai” caused severe devastation, killing more than 400 people.
Source: Nachrichten
