Philippines: Typhoon Kalmaegi Claims Over 90 Lives
The toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi in the Philippines has exceeded 90 deaths as of Wednesday, according to official figures compiled by AFP regarding this disaster, which has caused unprecedented flooding.
Entire towns in the province of Cebu, the hardest-hit area, were flooded the day before, with residents climbing onto rooftops to escape the muddy waters that swept away cars, trucks, and even large cargo containers.
Cebu spokesperson Rhon Ramos reported to AFP that 35 bodies were discovered in Liloan, a municipality within the metropolitan area of the local capital, bringing the regional total to 76 deaths.
In the morning, Rafaelito Alejandro, a national civil defense official, reported 17 additional deaths across the rest of the country.
The overall toll currently stands at at least 93 victims.
"It is the large urban areas that have been affected, very urbanized zones," Mr. Alejandro mentioned on the radio, adding that 26 people were reported missing.
Nearly 400,000 people had been preemptively evacuated from the typhoon's path.
On Wednesday morning, AFP encountered residents cleaning the streets, which had been submerged the day before.
"The river overflowed. That’s where the water came from," recounted Reynaldo Vergara, 53.
"Around 4 or 5 in the morning, the force of the water was so strong that we couldn’t step outside... nothing like this has ever happened. The waters were furious," he explained, stating that the current swept everything away in his shop.
- "Unprecedented" -
Kalmaegi made landfall on the eastern side of the country late Monday night (15:00 GMT), hitting the province of Dinagat Islands, according to the national weather service.
In the previous 24 hours, 183 millimeters of rainfall had fallen in the area around Cebu City, significantly above the monthly average of 131 millimeters, noted meteorologist Charmagne Varilla to AFP.
The province's governor, Pamela Baricuatro, described the situation as "unprecedented."
"We expected the winds to be dangerous, but... it's the water that truly endangers our population," she told reporters, labeling the flooding as "devastating."
By around 11:00 AM local time (03:00 GMT) on Wednesday, Kalmaegi was moving west towards the tourist areas of Palawan, with winds of 130 km/h, peaking at 180 km/h.
Each year, about twenty storms or typhoons hit or approach the Philippines, with the country's poorest regions often being the hardest hit.
Including Kalmaegi, the East Asian archipelago has already reached its annual average, Ms. Varilla stated. At least "three to five more" such phenomena could occur by December, she warned.
Typhoon Ragasa and storm Bualoi, both deadly, had already swept through the Philippines in September.
According to scientists, climate change driven by human activity is making extreme weather events more frequent, more deadly, and more destructive.
AFP