The death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi in the Philippines has climbed to 114, with 127 missing and no fewer than 500,000 people displaced in one of the worst flooding events in the country.
The national disaster agency said on Thursday.
Most of the deaths, 71 in total, were reported in the province of Cebu, where muddy floodwaters devastated communities after rivers overflowed when Kalmaegi dumped a month’s worth of rain.
There are still 65 people missing in Cebu, said Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro, deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defence.
The provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental were also hit hard, with 30 dead and 62 missing, Alejandro said.
Thirteen deaths were also reported in the provinces of Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Bohol, Leyte, Southern Leyte and Agusan del Sur.
Also, six people died in a crash involving a military helicopter that was deployed to assess the damage from the typhoon,he added
He said emergency workers were rushing to clear debris from floods and landslides in Cebu and the Negros provinces to help the search for the missing and allow the delivery of assistance.
In some areas of Cebu, the raging floods swept cars through the streets and left them piled on top of each other or on houses.
Kalmaegi exited the Philippines early Thursday, packing maximum sustained winds of 155 kilometres per hour (km/h) and gusts of up to 190 km/h, the weather bureau said.
It was moving north-westward towards Vietnam at 25 km/h.
The bureau said a new tropical cyclone barrelling towards the eastern and northern Philippines was expected to enter the country by Friday or Saturday.
