At least 72 people have died and 14 more are missing due to floods and landslides in the Philippines as tropical storm Nalgae moves across the country, as reported by Kyodo News.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. instructed authorities to concentrate relief efforts in the southern Bangsamoro region, where most of the casualties occurred, as the storm threatened to reach Manila in the late afternoon.
The country’s disaster response agency said heavy rains since Friday morning have triggered landslides in the villages of Datu Odin Sinsuat and Datu Blah Sinsuat in Maguindanao province, wiping out some villages. Landslides damaged bridges and hampered rescue operations, he said.
Maguindanao official Cyrus Torrena said in a local radio interview that “many more people were buried by landslides” in Datu Blah Sinsuat.
Other parts of the island of Mindanao and the Visayas group of islands in the central Philippines were also flooded, forcing thousands of people to evacuate.
The state meteorological agency said Nalgae maintained its strength, with maximum sustained winds of 95km / h and gusts of up to 130km / h, as it moved towards Luzon Island.
Nalgae is the 16th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, which is located in the Pacific typhoon belt and is visited by an average of 20 typhoons per year.
