Philippines: 138 killed in tropical storm ‘Maggie’

Rescuers and soldiers are continuing a desperate search for the 103 missing people after Tropical Storm Maggie passed through the central part of the island nation. So far, 138 deaths due to bad weather have been confirmed, according to the latest report from the authorities.

Maggie was the first cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands facing an average of 20 tropical storms a year.

“We are conducting rescue operations and are still searching for the missing,” Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Red Cross in the Philippines, told Reuters. As he noted, rescuers were not immediately allowed to go to the areas where landslides occurred, due to incessant rains and unstable ground. “It was deadly because it rained a lot and hit mountainous areas.”

As for the victims, 101 deaths occurred in Baybay, a mountainous area of ​​Leite province where landslides occur frequently. More than 200 people were injured, local officials said. 31 people were killed by a landslide in the city of Abuyog in the same province. Three people died in Cebu and Samar, while three drowned in other places where floods occurred, according to the emergency services.

Aerial photographs and videos released by the local government show slopes collapsing, burying coconut plantations and mud houses. In one area rescuers were forced to use inflatable boats to reach the site of a landslide.

Cyclone Maggie began hitting coastal areas of the Philippines on Sunday with winds blowing at 65km / h and gradually weakened.

More than 162,000 people, who have been forced to flee their homes, are living in shelters, according to government figures.

Hurricane Rai (Category 5) struck the central Philippines in December, leaving 405 dead and about 1,400 injured. Hurricane Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, killed 6,300 people in 2013.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ