Manila, Feb 11 (IANS) The death toll in flash floods caused by unrelenting rain in Palawan province in the southwestern Philippines climbed to five, local authorities said on Tuesday.
Jerry Alili, chief of the Palawan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said rescuers found two bodies who went missing after floodwaters swept away their van, carrying 12 people, on Sunday night, Xinhua news agency reported.
The bodies of three other people were found on Monday, while seven passengers had been safely rescued and are now recuperating at a local hospital, local authorities earlier said.
Palawan province recorded its heaviest 24-hour rainfall as the shear line continued to affect the area, local media reported.
“We received 341 millimetres of rain within 24 hours. That is 12 times the usual monthly allocation. All poured down in just one day,” Alili said.
Due to widespread flooding, Alili said over 2,000 families were forced to evacuate and have been staying in temporary government-run shelters.
Earlier in 2024, massive flooding and landslides caused by tropical storm Trami in the Philippines led to 130 deaths and reports of missing persons, while many areas remained isolated with people in need of rescue.
More than five million people were in the path of the storm, including nearly half a million who mostly fled to more than 6,300 emergency shelters in several provinces, the government agency said.
Each year, about 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines, a Southeast Asian archipelago that lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and flattened entire villages.
–IANS
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