At least 24 people have died in landslides and flooding in the central and southern Philippines.officials said Monday, after a storm dumped heavy rain and disrupted travel ahead of the Easter holidays.
More than 13,000 people had to take refuge in emergency centers when a tropical storm hit the country on Sunday, the national disaster agency said, flooding houses and fields and causing road and power cuts.
The province of Leyte (center) was the most affected and the landslides left 21 dead in four locationssaid to the AFP Rhyse Austero, a Baybay city official.
Three other people died on the southern island of Mindanao, the national disaster agency said.
Photos posted on Facebook and verified by AFP show several houses buried up to the ceiling in mud in Bunga, one of the affected towns in Leyte province.
“A landslide occurred in a village and other victims, unfortunately, were also swept away by the waves”, police lieutenant Joemen Collado told the DZBB radio network. “There were at least six missing, but there could be more.”
The coast guard, police and firefighters have rescued some villagers in flooded communities, including some who were trapped on their roofs. In central Cebu City, schools and work were suspended Monday and Mayor Michael Rama declared a state of calamity to allow emergency funds to be released quickly.
At least 20 storms and typhoons hit the Philippines every year, mainly during the rainy season that starts around June. Some storms have even struck during the scorching summer months in recent years.
The disaster-prone Southeast Asian nation is also on the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”where many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.
(With information from AFP and AP)
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Source-www.infobae.com