MANILA, Philippines — Widespread flooding and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Trami in the northeastern Philippines on Thursday resulted in at least 24 deaths. The storm swept away cars and forced authorities to use motorboats to rescue villagers stranded on rooftops.
The government closed schools and offices, except those essential for disaster response, for the second consecutive day on the entire main island of Luzon. This measure was taken to protect millions of people after Tropical Storm Trami hit the country’s northeastern province of Isabela after midnight.
The storm began moving away from the coast of the northwestern Philippine province of Ilocos Sur toward the South China Sea on Thursday afternoon. It had sustained winds of up to 95 kph (59 mph) and gusts up to 115 kph (71 mph). The storm was blowing southwestward and could intensify into a typhoon over the South China Sea, according to state weather forecasters.
At least 24 people lost their lives, mostly due to drowning in the hard-hit Bicol region and nearby Quezon province. However, the death toll was expected to rise as towns and villages cut off by flooding and roads blocked by landslides and fallen trees manage to send out reports, according to police and provincial officials.
The majority of the storm-related deaths were reported in the six-province Bicol region, southeast of Manila, where at least 21 people died. This included 8 residents in Naga city, which was inundated by flash floods as Trami approached on Tuesday. The storm dumped more than two months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours at high tide, according to regional police chief Brig. Gen. Andre Dizon and other officials.
While thousands of villagers trapped in floodwaters have been rescued by government forces, many more needed rescuing on Thursday in the Bicol region, including some on rooftops. Approximately 1,500 police officers have been deployed for disaster-mitigation work, Dizon said.
“We can’t rescue them all at once because there are so many and we need additional motorboats,” Dizon told The Associated Press by telephone. “We’re looking for ways to deliver food and water to those who were trapped but could not be evacuated right away.”
Flash floods swept away and submerged cars in parts of Naga city, while mudflows from Mayon, one of the country’s 24 active volcanoes, in nearby Albay province, engulfed several vehicles, Dizon said.
Stormy weather persisted in the region, hindering relief efforts, officials said.
The government’s disaster-mitigation agency said more than 2 million people were affected by the storm, including 75,400 villagers who were displaced from their homes and are seeking shelter in safer areas.
Over 1,000 houses were damaged, mostly in the Bicol region, and nearly 300 roads and bridges were impassable due to flooding, landslides, or fallen trees, according to the government’s disaster-mitigation agency.
The storm caused the suspension of inter-island ferry services in over 120 seaports, stranding nearly 7,000 passengers and cargo workers, the Philippine coast guard said.
Approximately 20 storms and typhoons strike the Philippines annually. In 2013, , one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones in the world, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and destroyed entire villages.