The balance of tropical storm Megi in the Philippines rose to 80 dead on Wednesday according to 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 Baybay City, in the central province of Leyte.
At least 48 people died, more than 100 were injured and 27 were missing after landslides loaded with water hit agricultural settlements near the City of Baybay, according to local authorities.
Aerial photos showed a wide tongue of mud coming down from the coconut hills and sweeping across the village of Bunga, where only a few protruding roofs could now be seen.
“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 family members and a friend in the landslides.
Three other people were killed in the central province of Negros Oriental and three on the main southern island of Mindanao, according to the national disaster relief agency.
Like a helicopter noise
In the coastal town of Pilar, which is part of the Abuyog municipality, 26 people have died and 150 are missing after a torrent of mud and earth pushed houses into the sea and buried most of the area, the official said. Mayor of Abuyog, Lemuel Traya.
“I have to be honest, we no longer expect to find survivors,” Traya told AFP, adding that the emergency person was now focused on the difficult task of recovering bodies.
Some 250 people were in evacuation centers and other residents were hospitalized, it 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 told AFP by phone from his hospital bed. His father died and his mother is missing.
The military joined the rescue teams in relief efforts, which have been affected by bad weather.
Storm Megi forced the suspension of operations in dozens of ports and left thousands of people stranded at the start of Holy Week, one of the busiest periods 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.
