At least 26 people were killed in the Philippines after a tropical storm caused widespread flooding and landslides.
Most of the deaths were reported in the Bicol region where flash floods inundated the Naga city, authorities said.
Trami, locally known as Kristine, lashed the country’s northeast on Wednesday and left many regions submerged.
The storm, packing sustained winds of 95kmph as it moved across the mountainous northern region of Cordillera towards the South China Sea, sparked widespread flooding and landslides in the provinces of Isabela and Luzon in particular as schools and public offices remained closed for the second day on Thursday.
The floods swept away cars and marooned villagers on their rooftops as rescue workers scrambled for motorboats to navigate inundated streets.
“We cannot rescue them all at once because there are so many,” Brig General Andre Dizon of the military told the Associated Press. “We are looking for ways to deliver food and water to those who were trapped but could not be evacuated right away.”
Rescue operations were facing challenges due to intense rainfall and flooding.
“We sent police rescue teams but they struggled to enter some areas because the flooding was high and the current was so strong,” police spokesperson Luisa Calubaquib told the AFP news agency.
President Ferdinand Marcos warned that the worst was “yet to come as he led an emergency meeting of government agencies on Wednesday morning.
“I’m feeling a little helpless here because all we can do is sit tight, wait, hope and pray that there is not too much damage, that there are no casualties,” he said.
The disaster mitigation agency said the storm had affected over two million people, including 75,400 villagers who were displaced from their homes and were sheltering on safer ground.
Trami came just a few weeks after typhoon Krathon passed near the Philippines, bringing intense rainfall and killing at least five people.
Then there was Yagi, one of the strongest typhoons to hit Southeast Asia in decades, which arrived in September, killed at least 21 people and left a trail of destruction in the archipelago.
The Philippines faces about 20 tropical storms every year. The storms often cause heavy rains, strong winds and deadly landslides.
In 2013, Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages, swept ships inland, and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines.
