Typhoon Kalmaegi in the Philippines: More than 90 Dead (Updated Toll)
Typhoon Kalmaegi in the Philippines has left more than 90 people dead, the civil defense authorities said Wednesday in their latest update on the disaster, which caused unusually severe flooding.
Entire towns in the province of Cebu (central Philippines), the hardest hit area, were submerged the day before, with residents climbing onto rooftops to escape muddy floodwaters that swept away cars, trucks, and even large shipping containers.
The spokesperson for Cebu, Rhon Ramos, said that 35 bodies were found in Liloan, a municipality within the metropolitan area of the local capital, bringing the regional death toll to 76.
Earlier in the morning, Rafaelito Alejandro, a senior national civil defense official, had reported 17 deaths in the rest of the country. The total death toll now stands at at least 93.
A previous toll had reported 66 deaths.
“These were major cities that were affected, highly urbanized areas,” Mr. Alejandro said on radio, adding that 26 people are still missing.
Nearly 400,000 people had been evacuated from the typhoon’s path as a precaution.
With Kalmaegi, the archipelago has already reached its annual average number of typhoons, meteorologist Charmagne Varilla said. She warned that “three to five more” such weather events could occur by December.
Earlier, Typhoon Ragasa and Tropical Storm Bualoi, both deadly, had already struck the Philippines in September.
