Dozens killed after Typhoon Kalmaegi brings flooding to central Philippines

A shipping container blocked a road after it was swept away by the floods brought by Typhoon Kalmaegi in Mandaue City, Cebu province on Wednesday.

By JASON GUTIÉRREZ, AIE BALAGTAS SEE and JIAWEI WANG

At least 85 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others forced to flee their homes in the central Philippines, authorities said, after Typhoon Kalmaegi brought destructive winds and devastating flooding to a region still reeling from a deadly earthquake.

Many of the victims had drowned, while some died from fallen trees, electrocution and landslide, according to the national Office of Civil Defense. More than 380,000 people had been displaced, many evacuating before Kalmaegi made landfall, according to the agency.

The extent of casualties and damage caused by the storm, known locally as Tino, was slowly emerging Wednesday, the day after the typhoon ripped through the area. Dozens were still missing and at least 17 had been injured, authorities said. By Wednesday morning, flooding in some areas had receded.

But videos posted on social media Tuesday and verified by The New York Times showed streets on the island of Cebu overwhelmed by floodwaters and people trying to get to dry ground. One clip captured a man in a red safety vest heading down a street on paddle board to check on others.

“We were marooned inside our house and rushed to the second floor,” Monique Haeyn Rosario, 28, who lives with her toddler, her parents and other family near the Butuanon River in Cebu City, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. She said the river’s level started rising quickly around 5 a.m. Tuesday. Floodwaters outside her house were as high as 10 feet, she estimated.

“The authorities have reached us and are rushing aid, but I am appealing for food, and, most importantly, water and dry clothes and medicines,” she said.

The national government said it had distributed aid, including food, worth 6 million Philippine pesos, about $100,000. The military and coast guard were helping to clear debris and evacuate residents from flooded areas.

One air force helicopter en route to assess the damage crashed in southern Agusan del Sur province Tuesday afternoon, the military said. The crew of five died in the accident.

In Cebu province, officials said that more than 100,000 people were sheltering in evacuation centers.

According to the Office of Civil Defense, 49 deaths were recorded in Cebu. Fatalities were also reported in Bohol, Capiz and Leyte provinces, the Negros Island Region as well as the Eastern and Western Visayas.

Kalmaegi hit the Philippines just over a month after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed dozens in northern Cebu.

It made landfall eight times as it cut a deadly swath across the central Philippines, an archipelago nation that lies in the Pacific typhoon belt.

After wrecking havoc on the Visayas islands, it moved west and was in the South China Sea on Wednesday morning, headed toward Vietnam.