(News Australia) At least 45 people are dead and around 20 are missing after the Philippines was hit by a severe storm overnight.
Tropical Storm Nalgae (called Paeng in the Philippines) made landfall on Saturday, with wind gusts of up to 160km/h unleashing on the Pacific nation throughout the weekend, leading to flash flooding and landslides.
Rescuers using rubber dinghies and canoes attempted to access villages that were submerged as they searched for people stranded in the deluge and pulled bodies from the water.
The Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development has estimated that more than 409,000 people had been affected by the storm, with at least 61,000 displaced – including in capital Manila, The New York Times reports.
The hardest hit region has been in the south of the country in Bangsamoro, where at least 40 people were killed as a result of the flash flooding, the Social Welfare Department said.
The area is fairly impoverished, with Cotabato City mayor Bruce Matabalao saying 330,000 people in his city alone had been affected by the severe storm event. On Saturday, Bangsamoro was declared under a state of emergency… Read More
