At least 66 dead after Typhoon Kalmaegi floods Philippines, engulfing all communities

Typhoon kalmaegi It has left at least 66 people dead and 26 others missing in the central Philippines, with many of the floods trapping people on their roofs and inundating vehicles in the hard-hit province, officials said Wednesday.

Among the dead were six people killed when a helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday. The workers were on their way to provide humanitarian aid to the provinces hit by Kalmaegi, the military said. It did not give the cause of the accident.

Kalmaegi lashed west of Palawan province into the South China Sea before dawn with strong winds with gusts of up to 130 kph and intensity of up to 180, according to forecasters.

Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, Deputy Administrator of the Office of Civil Protection, and provincial officials said most of the deaths were reported in the province of Cebu, which caused the river and other waterways to swell.

The floods that led to the people who live in them, forcing them to scare the citizens to go up to their roofs, where they are begging to be saved as the floods rise, officials said.

The Philippine Red Cross received many calls from people in need of rescue in Cebu from their rooftops, said Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang on Tuesday.

Many drowning deaths

At least 49 people drowned in the floods and others died due to mudslides and debris in Cebu, where 13 of the 26 people were killed, the Office of Civil Defense said on Wednesday.

“We did everything we could with the storm but, you know, there are some unexpected things like flash floods,” Pebu Baricuatro said: “Pebu Baricuatro said some unexpected things like flash floods.

Caloy Ramirez, a volunteer rescuer, said that the massive floods caused by the Typhoon turned the high-class community of CEBU City on Tuesday into an area surrounded by SUVs and houses.

Residents said the floodwaters burst through the first floors of their homes within minutes, sending them ripping through floors or roofs.

“We always expect the worst and what I saw yesterday was the worst,” Ramirez told the AP. He also explained how the faces of desperate citizens will light up when they see that they are saved.

Concerns are growing about flood control projects

The problems may have been made worse by years of reservations that caused the closure of nearby rivers, overflows, and took away flood control projects in Cebu province, said Bhariciatro.

A corruption scandal involving substandard or non-existent flood control projects across the Philippines has sparked public unrest and street protests in recent months.

Cebu, a bustling province of more than 2.4 million people, declared a state of emergency to allow the administration to disperse emergency funds as quickly as possible.

Cebu was still recovering from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on September 30 that left at least 79 people dead and thousands more when houses were destroyed or severely damaged.

Thousands of residents of Northern CEBU who were living in the earthquake zone were moved to shelters that came out of the water before the typhoon hit, said Bhariciatro. Northern cities destroyed by the earthquake were often hit by floods produced by Kalmaegi, he added.

Kalmaegi refers to Vietnam and Thailand

Before the fall of Kalmaegi, officials said more than 387,000 people had fled to the safety of the Eastern and Philippine provinces in the central Philippines.

Boats and fishing boats were barred from entering the rising sea, stranding more than 3,500 passengers and nearly 100 truckers, the coast guard said. At least 186 domestic flights were cancelled.

The Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons and typhoons every year. The country is also prone to landslides and has more than a dozen volcanoes, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.

Central Vietnam, still reeling from days of record rainfall that caused floods and landslides, was expecting heavy rain as the kalmaegi approached.

Fishing boats have returned to shore while local authorities study evacuation strategies, shelters and food supplies, state media said.

Forecasters estimate that the typhoon will reach the coast of Vietnam on Friday morning.

At the same time, Thailand’s Cage Africa Weather of Thailand issued advisories for the North, East and Central areas, Kalmaegi’s warning will bring heavy rain on Friday and it will be a weekend that can cause flooding, river area and river overflow.