At least 24 dead in the Philippines due to landslides and floods

At least 24 people died in landslides and floods in the central and southern Philippines, authorities said Monday, after a storm left heavy rain and disrupted travel before the Easter holidays.

More than 13,000 people had to take refuge in emergency centers when a tropical storm hit the country on Sunday, the national disaster agency said, flooding homes and fields and causing road and power cuts.

The province of Leyte (center) was the hardest hit and landslides left 21 dead in four locations, Rhyse Austero, a Baybay city official, told AFP.

Three other people died on the island of Mindanao, in the south, the national disaster agency said.

Photos posted on Facebook and verified by AFP show several houses buried in the mud up to the roof in Bunga, one of the affected towns in the province of Leyte.

“In one village there was a collapse and other victims, unfortunately, were also washed away by the waves,” police lieutenant Joemen Collado told the radio station DZBB. “There were at least six missing, but there could be more.”

The coast guard, police and firefighters rescued some villagers in flooded communities, including some who were trapped on their roofs. In downtown Cebu City, schools and work were suspended on Monday and Mayor Michael Rama declared a state of calamity to allow for the rapid release of emergency funds.

At least 20 storms and typhoons hit the Philippines each year, mainly during the rainy season that begins around June. Some storms have hit even during the scorching summer months in recent years.

The disaster-prone Southeast Asian nation is also located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

(With information from AFP and AP)

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