Storm leaves hundreds dead in the Philippines
Source: Agencies |
December 18, 2011, Sunday
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Pounding rain from a tropical storm swelled rivers and sent walls of water crushing into two southern Philippine cities in the thick of night, killing at least 436 people, many caught in their beds, officials said yesterday.
Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang said the latest toll was based on a body count in funeral parlors. She said that 215 died in Cagayan de Oro and 144 in nearby Iligan, and the rest in several other southern and central provinces.
Most of the dead were asleep on Friday night when raging floodwaters tore through their homes from swollen rivers and cascaded from mountain slopes following 12 hours of pounding rain in the southern Mindanao region. The region is unaccustomed to the typhoons that are common elsewhere in the archipelago nation.
Many of the bodies in parlors were unclaimed, indicating that entire families had perished, Pang said.
The number of missing was unclear last night.
Before the latest Red Cross figures, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang said that about 250 people were still unaccounted for in Iligan.
Thousands of soldiers backed up by hundreds of local police, reservists, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers were mobilized for rescue efforts.
They were also being used to clean up after the massive deluge that left the two coastal cities strewn with debris, trash, overturned vehicles and toppled trees.
Many roads were cut off and there was no electricity, hampering relief efforts.
Some of the dead were swept out to sea from Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, which are intersected by rivers and flanked by mountains.
Chief of the government's Civil Defense Office Benito Ramos attributed the high casualties in Mindanao "partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms" despite four days of warnings by officials that one was approaching.
The floodwaters were waist-high in some neighborhoods that do not usually experience flooding. Scores of residents escaped the floods by climbing onto the roofs of their homes, Iligan Mayor Lawrence Cruz said.
Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang said the latest toll was based on a body count in funeral parlors. She said that 215 died in Cagayan de Oro and 144 in nearby Iligan, and the rest in several other southern and central provinces.
Most of the dead were asleep on Friday night when raging floodwaters tore through their homes from swollen rivers and cascaded from mountain slopes following 12 hours of pounding rain in the southern Mindanao region. The region is unaccustomed to the typhoons that are common elsewhere in the archipelago nation.
Many of the bodies in parlors were unclaimed, indicating that entire families had perished, Pang said.
The number of missing was unclear last night.
Before the latest Red Cross figures, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang said that about 250 people were still unaccounted for in Iligan.
Thousands of soldiers backed up by hundreds of local police, reservists, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers were mobilized for rescue efforts.
They were also being used to clean up after the massive deluge that left the two coastal cities strewn with debris, trash, overturned vehicles and toppled trees.
Many roads were cut off and there was no electricity, hampering relief efforts.
Some of the dead were swept out to sea from Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, which are intersected by rivers and flanked by mountains.
Chief of the government's Civil Defense Office Benito Ramos attributed the high casualties in Mindanao "partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms" despite four days of warnings by officials that one was approaching.
The floodwaters were waist-high in some neighborhoods that do not usually experience flooding. Scores of residents escaped the floods by climbing onto the roofs of their homes, Iligan Mayor Lawrence Cruz said.
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