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Landslides in Philippines kill over 2 dozen

Sunday, 17 December 2017 11:04 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 17 December 2017 2:57 PM ]

Children walk past debris and damaged houses in Barangay San Mateo Borongan in eastern Samar, the Philippines, on December 17, 2017, after Tropical Depression Kai-Tak ripped through the area. (Photo by AFP)

Authorities in the Philippines say landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Kai-Tak have claimed the lives of more than two dozen people in the country’s east.

The announcement was made on Sunday, a day after the storm pounded the small Philippine island of Biliran in the east of the archipelago nation.

“There are a total of 26 people dead from landslides in four towns of Biliran. We have recovered the bodies,” Sofronio Dacillo, the Biliran provincial disaster risk reduction and management officer, told AFP, adding that 23 others were also missing.

Reports said the storm had toppled power lines in 39 towns across Biliran and damaged roads and bridges, forcing some 87,700 people from their homes in the region.

Packing gusts of up to 110 kilometers an hour and reclassified as a tropical depression, Kai-Tak hit the eastern Philippines on Saturday but state weather forecasters said the storm would weaken on Sunday afternoon.

Stranded vehicles sit lined up on a highway heading to the port in Matnog, Sorsogon, on December 17, 2017, amid travel chaos caused by Tropical Depression Kai-Tak. (Photo by AFP)

Philippine disaster officials expressed alarm that more floods and landslides were possible, also saying that 15,500 passengers had been stranded due to the suspension of ferry services in the town of Matnog in the eastern province of Sorsogon.

Storms generated over the Pacific Ocean normally hit the Philippines as the first major land mass.

The islands experience some 20 major storms each year, with many of them resulting in casualties. The last major storm hitting the area, namely the Typhoon Nock-Ten, came over the last Christmas holidays and killed six people. At least 18 were unaccounted for after the storm lashed the southern islands.

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