The death toll from flooding and rain-induced landslides in the Philippines has climbed to 48, the country’s disaster agency said on Sunday, with 22 others recorded missing after tropical storm Nalgae inundated many parts of the archipelago.
Some 40 people were reported injured, while nearly 170,000 were sheltering in evacuation centres, government data showed, as the storm exited land areas after barrelling across the country over the weekend, including the capital, Manila.
Most of the casualties were recorded in the southern autonomous region of Bangsamoro, where 40 died due to landslides, with 10 still missing, the disaster agency said.
An official said victims in a coastal village that had once been devastated by a killer tsunami mistakenly thought a tidal wave was coming and ran to higher ground toward a mountain and were buried alive by the boulder-laden deluge.
There are fears 80 to 100 more people could be buried or washed away by flash floods in Kusiong.
