The number of dead and missing from the violent tropical storm “Nalgae” in the Philippines has continued to rise. By Monday, 98 dead and 63 missing had been recorded, said the Southeast Asian island state’s civil protection department.
Almost 70 people were injured in the floods and landslides. Almost a million of those affected had to leave their homes, 300,000 of them are currently housed in evacuation centers.
The storms initially wreaked havoc in the south of the Philippines at the end of last week. More than 100 houses were buried by masses of earth in Maguindanao province. “Nalgae” then headed north-west. The Western Visayas region and the provinces of Cavite, Laguna and Batangas south of the capital Manila were particularly affected.
President visits affected areas
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited areas affected by the floods on Monday. “Our flood protection measures were completely overwhelmed by the floods,” he said. “That’s why I keep reminding disaster risk reduction agencies that the most important thing in preparing for a storm is preventive evacuation. We have to be ahead of the typhoon.”
The storm, which is called “Paeng” in the Philippines, is expected to leave the country on Monday afternoon (local time) and move towards southern China, the weather service said. He was traveling with wind speeds of 85 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 105 kilometers per hour.
An average of about 20 typhoons hit the Philippines each year. The worst storm to date, Haiyan, killed more than 6,300 people in November 2013.
