The number of victims of tropical storm Megi in the Philippines rose to 80, as reported on Wednesday in the official balance, which increases as rescuers discover bodies buried by landslides caused by rain.
Most of the deaths from the storm, the most powerful to reach the Asian archipelago this year, were recorded in towns around the City of Baybay, in the central province of Leyte.
Aerial photos showed a wide tongue of mud that came down from the hills of coconut palms and swept the village of Bungawhere only a few roofs could now be seen sticking out.
“We were told to be alert because a storm was coming, but we were not directly told that we had to evacuate,” said farmworker Loderica Portarcos, 47, who lost 17 relatives and a friend in the landslides.
Meanwhile, another three people died in the central province of Negros Oriental and three on the main southern island of Mindanao, according to the national disaster relief agency, the AFP news agency reported.
While in the coastal town of Pilar, which is part of the Abuyog municipality, 26 people died and 150 are missing, after a torrent of mud and earth pushed houses into the sea and buried most of the place, detailed the mayor of Abuyog, Lemuel Traya.
“I have to be honest, we are no longer expecting to find survivors,” Traya reported, noting that emergency personnel are now focused on the difficult task of recovering bodies.
“Some 250 people were in evacuation centers and other inhabitants were hospitalized”he added.
A loud noise similar to that of a “helicopter” alerted Ara Mae Canuto, 22, that a landslide was approaching her family’s home in Pilar.
The young woman tried to run but was swept into the sea and nearly drowned. “I swallowed dirty water and my ears and nose are full of mud,” Canuto said. Her father died and her mother is missing.
Storm Megi forced the suspension of operations in dozens of ports and left thousands of people stranded at the start of Holy Weekone of the busiest travel times of the year in the Philippines.
Megi arrived four months after Super Typhoon Rai devastated much of the country, leaving more than 400 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.
