Philippines: Death toll due to storm reaches 67

Official tally in the Philippines showed that landslides and flooding killed at least 67 people on Friday. Southern part of the country has been lashed due to storm.

The village of Kusiong accounted for many of the 50 deaths in the area around Datu Odin Sinsuat town, after heavy overnight rain unleashed floods mixed with mud, rocks and fallen trees that buried the community, the area's civil defence office said in a statement.

Similar avalanches also struck villages in the nearby towns of Datu Blah Sinsuat and Upi, which accounted for 17 more deaths.
Eleven people remain missing and 31 were injured, according to official figures.

Tropical Storm Nalgae caused heavy rains which in turn led to flash floods that swamped nine mostly rural towns around Cotabato. It is a city of 300,000 people on Mindanao island.

Naguib Sinarimbo, the spokesman and civil defence chief for the regional government, tol AFP that many residents were caught by surprise as floodwaters rose rapidly before dawn. Sinamaribo said that Teams in rubber boats rescued residents.

In recent years, flash floods with mud and debris from largely deforested mountainsides have been among the deadliest hazards posed by typhoons in Philippine communities.

Mindanao is rarely hit by the 20 or so typhoons that strike the Philippines each year and kill hundreds of people. Those that do, however, tend to be deadlier than those that hit the country's main island of Luzon.

(With inputs from agencies)

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