According to an official census, 67 people had died as a result of floods and soil landslides in the southern Philippines prior to the arrival of the storm, and paramedics were working to rescue residents of a mountainous village that had been submerged in mud.
The Civil Defense Office in the area said in a statement that about 50 people were killed in the village of Kosyung, near the town of Dato Odin Cennousa, after heavy rains throughout the night that caused floods mixed with mud, rocks and trees that swept the town.
17 more people were killed when comparable floods affected communities in the nearby cities of Dato Blaw Sinoswat and Obi.
11 people are still missing, while 31 people are injured, according to official figures.
In numerous towns and rural areas, mostly in the area of Kotabato, a 300 000-person city on the island of Mindanao, the storm’s rivers carried away trees, rocks, and tablets during the night.
According to Naguib Narrimbo, the area’s civil defence official, the flood water level shocked many locals.
He emphasised how some people were saved from various building roofs by members of the relief teams who were working from rubber boats.
According to a recent Civil Defense Office report, more than 7,000 residents of the villages and towns affected by floods and soil slippage in these areas were evacuated.
The Coast Guard also suspended ferry services in most parts of the archipelago, as it uses tens of thousands of boats daily.
20 hurricanes and storms of the Philippines are struck every year, killing hundreds of people and destroying farms, homes, roads and bridges, knowing that the south of the country is rarely subject to this type of disasters.
Scientists caution that violent storms have increased as a result of climate change at a time when global temperatures are rising.
67 more people have died as a result of the floods in the Philippines.
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