At least 72 people have died as a result of floods caused by heavy rains in the last day in the province of Maguindanao, in the southern Philippines, due to the passage of tropical storm ‘Nalgae’.
This province has been the most affected with a total of 67 dead in Sultan Kudarat, two others in South Cotabato and the rest in the Visayas region in central Philippines, according to the spokesman of the country’s disaster agency to the radio station DZMM and reported by ‘Rappler’.
The tropical storm, which made landfall in the early hours of Saturday morning, has left another 33 people injured while 14 others are missing.
Nasrullah Imam, head of the provincial disaster management office, said that «most have been killed by floods and landslides, which have left homes buried.» «Some victims have been trapped in their homes,» he said before warning that the death toll could be higher as people are unaccounted for.
«We are now gathering all the rescue teams and will hold a briefing before deployment,» said Imam, a provincial agency official. «It is no longer raining, so this will help our search and operation.»
The tropical storm, which has maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 160 kilometers per hour, has made landfall in the eastern province of Catanduanes.
