At least 24 people died in floods and landslides during a tropical storm that hit the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) – Widespread flooding and landslides triggered Thursday by a tropical storm in the northeastern Philippines killed at least 24 people, swept away cars and prompted authorities to use speedboats to rescue trapped villagers, some on their roofs .

The government closed schools and offices – except those urgently needed for disaster response – across the main island of Luzon to protect millions of people after Tropical Storm Trami hit the northeastern province of Isabela after midnight.

The storm began moving away from the coast of the northwestern Philippine province of Ilocos Sur toward the South China Sea on Thursday afternoon, with sustained winds of up to 95 km/h (59 mph) and gusts of up to 115 km/h (71 mph). . According to state forecasters, it was blowing southwest and could develop into a typhoon over the South China Sea.

At least 24 people have died, mostly by drowning, in the hard-hit Bicol region and nearby Quezon province, but the death toll is expected to rise as towns and villages isolated by floods and roads blocked by landslides and fallen trees send out reports, police say. provincial officials said.

Most of the storm deaths were reported in the six-province Bicol region, southeast of Manila, where at least 21 people died, including eight residents of the city of Naga, which was inundated by flash floods as Trami approached on Tuesday, causing more than two months. The amount of rainfall in just 24 hours at high tide, regional police commander Brig. Gen. Andre Dizon and other officials said.

While thousands of villagers stranded in floodwaters were rescued by government forces, many more had to be rescued in the Bicol region on Thursday, including some from their rooftops. Dizon said about 1,500 police officers were deployed to mitigate the disaster.

“We can’t save them all at once because there are so many of them and we need additional speedboats,” Dizon told The Associated Press by phone. “We are looking for ways to provide food and water to trapped people who could not be evacuated immediately.”

Flash floods swept away and submerged cars in parts of Naga city, while mud from Mayon, one of the country’s 24 active volcanoes in nearby Albay province, engulfed several vehicles, Dizon said.

Officials say stormy weather remains in the region, hampering relief efforts.

The government’s disaster mitigation agency said the storm affected more than 2 million people, including 75,400 rural residents who were displaced from their homes and took refuge in safer places.

More than 1,000 homes were damaged, mostly in the Bicol region, and nearly 300 roads and bridges were impassable due to flooding, landslides or fallen trees, the government’s disaster relief agency said.

The storm suspended inter-island ferry services at more than 120 seaports, stranding nearly 7,000 passengers and cargo workers, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

About 20 storms and typhoons hit the Philippines every year. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the world’s strongest tropical cyclones on record, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and leveled entire villages.

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