- Most of the victims in the province of Maguindanao, affected by the landslide
- The death toll was reduced to 45 out of 72 after checks
- The Philippines has an annual average of 20 tropical storms
MANILA, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Manila and nearby towns braced on Saturday for Tropical Storm Nalgae, which has killed 45 people, mainly due to landslides in the southern provinces of the Philippines.
The Southeast Asian nation’s disaster agency lowered the death toll to 45 from 72 after checking reports from ground personnel, including rescue workers searching for 18 missing people.
According to the mayor’s office, residents in the coastal area of the capital were evacuated while classes were suspended at all levels.
Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan on Saturday ordered the closure of the city’s cemeteries, where millions of people were expected to visit during the extended All Saints’ Day weekend.
The tropical storm, which has maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers (60 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 130 kilometers per hour (80 mph), made multiple landfalls in the eastern Philippines on Saturday.
The state weather agency, in its latest bulletin, warned of widespread flooding and landslides due to heavy and sometimes torrential rains over the capital region and nearby provinces as Nalgae cuts across the main island of Luzon and heads towards the South China Sea.
Airlines have canceled 116 domestic and international flights there from the main gateway to the Philippines. Nearly 7,500 passengers, drivers and stevedores and 107 ships were stranded in ports, the coast guard said.
Government agencies were providing aid and food packages to affected families, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Twitter.
Coast guard personnel guided residents through chest-deep floods, with rescuers using a one-piece plastic chair and an old refrigerator to carry children and the elderly in the central province of Leyte, according to photos shared by the agency
Most of the deaths, 40, have been reported in the southern province of Maguindanao.
“We are not ruling out the possibility of more casualties,” Cyrus Torrena, provincial administrator of Maguindanao, told radio station DZMM. “But we pray that it will not increase significantly.”
The Philippines sees an average of 20 tropical storms a year. In December, Category 5 Typhoon Rai devastated the central provinces, leaving 407 dead and more than 1,100 injured.
Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Chris Reese and William Mallard
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