MANILA: The death toll from tropical storm Trami has risen to at least 90 in the Philippines, officials said, with 36 people reported missing. Some of the worst-affected areas were still submerged on Sunday.
Trami, known locally as Kristine, caused widespread flooding and triggered landslides that forced more than half a million people from their homes and damaged nearly 28,000 houses. It caused power disruptions in more than 150 cities and municipalities, according to the Office of Civil Defense.
It was the 11th and deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines in 2024, affecting people across Luzon, the country’s most populous island, and in Visayas islands and parts of Mindanao, along the Philippines’ eastern coast.
Relief workers were struggling to reach some of the worst-hit areas in the province of Camarines Sur and particularly Naga City, located in Luzon’s Bicol region.
“The situation, particularly in the five towns of Camarines Sur, is still the same. There is still heavy flooding … (and) very little change, the waters have receded by just less than a foot,” Claudio Yucot, regional director at the OCD in Bicol, told Arab News.
Floods were above head-level in some areas, he said, adding that the destruction left by Trami was “unprecedented,” citing local residents who said they have never experienced such strong rains.
“There was no wind, in fact the storm was far from us, we were outside of the cone of uncertainty. But the amount of rain dumped in our area was really unprecedented.”
Authorities were bracing for yet another tropical storm, Kong-rey, which was moving over the Philippine Sea on Sunday with similar wind speeds. While the storm, known locally as Leon, may not make landfall in the Philippines, weather authorities say it may still affect northern Luzon in the coming days.
OCD administrator Ariel Nepomuceno said in a radio interview that authorities were still unable to access some areas on Sunday, due to the floods caused by Trami.
“We need to use boats or rubber boats, we cannot reach them via ordinary vehicles. But we are reaching them albeit slowly because land vehicles still cannot pass through,” he said.
Trami also triggered deadly landslides in Talisay and Batangas, killing at least 20 people in the village of Sampaloc.
“Due to the non-stop heavy rains, the mountain gave way and when the landslide happened, many people were killed. Twenty bodies have already been recovered and there is still one missing,” Hibirio Garcia, Sampaloc village head, told Arab News.
“The houses are gone, because most (of them) are huts, they are not made of cement, just made of wood.”
The Philippines is the country most at risk from natural disasters, according to the 2024 World Risk Report.
Millions of Filipinos are affected by storms and typhoons every year, which have grown more unpredictable and extreme due to the changing climate.
Last month, more than a dozen people were killed when Typhoon Yagi, known locally as Enteng, hit the country’s east.
