At least 24 died – primarily drowned in the hard-hit Bicol region and neighboring Quezon province – but the toll was expected to rise as towns and villages isolated by flooding and roads blocked by landslides and toppled trees began to send out reports.
Heavy flooding and landslides brought by a tropical storm that struck the northeastern Philippines on Thursday killed at least 24 people, swept away some cars and prompted authorities to scramble for motorboats to rescue trapped villagers, some of whom were holed up in roofs.
Manila: The government shut down schools and offices — except those urgently needed for disaster response — for the second day on the entire main island of Luzon to protect millions of people after Tropical Storm Trami slammed into the country’s northeastern province of Isabela after midnight.
It was blowing westward over Aguinaldo town in the mountain province of Ifugao past dawn, with sustained winds of up to 95 kph (59 mph) and gusts up to 160 kph (99 mph). According to state forecasters, it was forecast to enter the South China Sea later on Thursday.
At least 24 people died, primarily by drowning in the hard-hit Bicol region and nearby Quezon province. Still, the toll was expected to rise as towns and villages were isolated by flooding, landslides blocked roads, and toppled trees managed to send out reports, police and provincial officials said.
Most of the storm deaths were reported in the six-province Bicol region, southeast of Manila, where at least 20 people died, including 7 residents of Naga City; flash floods inundated that as Trami approaches Tuesday, dumping more than two months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours at high tide, regional police chief Brig. Gen. Andre Dizon and other officials said.
