In the southern Philippines, a storm kills at least 67 people

• Landslides and flooding in the southern Philippines killed at least 67 people on Friday.
• Rescuers raced to evacuate residents of a mountain community that was submerged in muck.
• 31 individuals were injured and 11 people are still missing.

Some families were swept away when the waters hit their homes. Nalgae, which is moving northwest over ocean with maximum winds of 85 kilometers per hour (53 miles per hour).

Landslides and flooding in the southern Philippines killed at least 67 people on Friday. Rescuers raced to evacuate residents of a mountain community that was submerged in muck. According to an official count.

According to a statement from the local civil defence office, the village of Kusiong was buried by floodwaters mixed with mud, rocks, and fallen trees and was responsible for the most of the 50 fatalities in the vicinity of Datu Odin Sinsuat town.

Another 17 people were killed when comparable avalanches devastated communities in the neighboring cities of Datu Blah Sinsuat and Upi.

According to official statistics, 31 individuals were injured and 11 people are still missing.

Cotabato, a metropolis of 300,000 people on the island of Mindanao, was surrounded by nine primarily rural villages that were inundated by flash floods brought on by Tropical Storm Nalgae’s precipitation.

As floodwaters rose quickly before daylight, many locals were taken off guard, said Naguib Sinarimbo, the regional government’s spokesman and commander of civil defense, to AFP.

Residents have been evacuated from rooftops in other communities by teams using rubber boats, according to Sinarimbo.

In recent years, one of the worst risks posed by typhoons in Philippine villages has been flash floods with mud and debris from heavily deforested mountainsides.

The roughly 20 typhoons that lash the Philippines annually and claim hundreds of lives rarely make landfall on Mindanao. But when they do, they frequently cause more deaths than those that strike Luzon, the nation’s largest island.

According to the state weather office, a large mountain range that separates the majority of Luzon from the Pacific, where most storms develop, helps soften the shock.

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Remar Pablo, a local filmmaker, told AFP that after midnight, when he was filming a beauty competition in Upi, floodwaters suddenly swept in and caused spectators to evacuate.

Video footage revealed that a row of cars was partially flooded on the street outside.

“We were stranded inside,” said Pablo, who eventually waded through the water to get home.

A picture shared by the provincial police showed rescuers carrying a baby while navigating chest-deep water.

While floodwaters have subsided in some places, Cotabato is still completely under water.

According to Sinarimbo, additional flooding may occur over the next several hours as a result of the mountains surrounding the Cotabato river basin receiving a lot of rain.

According to Nasrullah Imam, the province civil defense chief, the army sent out its trucks to pick up trapped citizens in Cotabato and neighboring towns.

“It was a shock to see municipalities which had never flooded getting hit this time,” Imam said, adding that some families were swept away when the waters hit their homes.

After decades of separatist armed rebellion, the poor region is now governed by Muslims. The torrential rain started late on Thursday.

The downpours, according to the state weather office in Manila, were partially brought on by Nalgae, which is expected to intensify before making landfall overnight on Friday.

Late on Friday, Nalgae was just off Samar Island and was moving northwest over ocean with maximum winds of 85 kilometers per hour (53 miles per hour). Early on Saturday, Nalgae is expected to track the Bicol peninsula.

According to an updated count from the civil defense office, more than 7,000 people had to be evacuated from settlements in these areas that were vulnerable to flooding and landslides.

A large portion of the archipelago nation, where tens of thousands of people board boats each day, also saw the coast guard cease ferry services.

Scientists have cautioned that as the world warms due to climate change, storms—which also kill livestock and ruin farms, homes, roads, and bridges—are growing more powerful.

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