Storm Megi: Search for survivors in Philippines
April 12, 2022
More than three dozen people have died with several more still missing as rescue workers in the Philippines continued to look for survivors on Tuesday after tropical storm Megi caused landslides in the center of the country.
Around 20,000 people across 17 provinces have fled their homes since Megi, known in the Philippines by its local name Agaton, made landfall on Sunday.
Local police chief Lt. Col. Joemen Collado said 22 people had died as a result of landslides in four villages in Baybay city in central Leyte province, some 600 kilometers (373 miles) south-east of Manila. At least six others were reported missing, he added.
Later on Tuesday, emergency personnel suspended the search for survivors around Baybay city, as it was "too dangerous" to continue in the dark, said Marissa Miguel Cano, public information officer for the city government.
Nearly 200 floods
Three people were also killed in the central province of Negros Oriental and three on the main southern island of Mindanao, according to the Philippines' national disaster agency.
Nearly 200 floods were reported in different areas in central and southern provinces over the weekend, flooding houses, severing roads and knocking out power.
Megi has since weakened into a tropical depression, the weather bureau said.
The storm was moving slowly towards the east, but the bureau said its path could change "considering the continuing erratic nature of its movement."
The weather bureau is also monitoring severe tropical storm Malakas, which maintained its strength as it moved towards the Philippines from the east.
First tropical storm this year
Megi is the first tropical storm of 2022 to hit the Southeast Asian country.
At least 20 storms and typhoons typically batter the Philippines each year, mostly during the rainy season that begins around June.
The disaster-prone nation also lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an area particularly susceptible to other natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
jsi/msh (AP, AFP, dpa)