The death toll from rains and floods on Christmas Day in the south of the Philippines has risen to 13, according to the country’s Civil Protection Council. A further 23 people are still missing.
Most deaths were caused by flash floods following two days of heavy rains over Christmas, which affected more than 166,000 people and forced more than 45,000 to seek shelter in evacuation centers, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said on Tuesday.
Pictures on social media show coastguards, police and fire departments wading through waist-high floods and carrying residents through landslide-affected areas and out of flooded villages and roads. Twelve roads were flooded by overflowing rivers, and more than 20 areas in the affected region were still without power, according to local news agency Inquirer.net on Tuesday.
Unlike previous disasters caused by tropical storms in the Philippines, recent torrential rains and floods were due to a shear line — an area where warm and cold winds meet and form huge rain clouds.
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fatalities included a year-old girl and a 64-year-old man who drowned in various incidents in Camarines Sur province, some 270 km (168 miles) southeast of Manila. Four others were reported killed in the southern province of Misamis Occidental, including a 68-year-old woman who had a heart attack after being rescued.
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disaster authority said that the missing persons are mainly fishermen who have gone out to sea despite the dangers associated with bad weather.
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Rescue operations are continuing and the damage to agriculture is being assessed, Carmelito Heray, head of the disaster authority in the town of Clarin in Misamis Occidental province, told DZBB radio station.
“The biggest damage here is the cattle,” Clarin City Mayor Emeterio Roa said on the radio.
The country’s weather agency, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), said Tuesday that the shear line remains in place and heavy rains will continue to occur in parts of the country, and that rain-related landslides are likely in some areas.
“The affected authorities and the competent authorities responsible for disaster preparedness and management are recommended to take all necessary measures to protect lives and property,” said PAGASA.