Philippine officials have said the death toll from the widespread flooding and devastation caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi in the country's central region has risen to at least 114, with 127 others reported missing, many of them in a hard-hit province still recovering from a deadly earthquake.
Most of the deaths were reported in the central province of Cebu, which was pummeled by Kalmaegi on Tuesday, setting off flash floods and causing a river and other waterways to overflow, said Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense on Thursday.
Among the dead were six people who were killed when a Philippine air force helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday, officials said.
The crew was on its way to provide humanitarian help to provinces battered by Kalmaegi, the military said.
It did not give the cause of the crash.
Forecasters report Kalmaegi shifted from western Palawan into the South China Sea by Wednesday noon, heading towards Vietnam.
The Philippine Red Cross received many calls from people needing rescue in Cebu from their roofs, its secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang said Tuesday.
Deaths by drowning
At least 49 drowned in floods and others died as a result of landslides and falling debris in Cebu, where 13 people were reported missing, the Office of Civil Defence said.
It added that 62 others were reported missing in the central provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, which are located near Cebu.
“We did everything we can for the typhoon but, you know, there are really some unexpected things like flash floods,” Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro told The Associated Press by telephone.
Caloy Ramirez, a volunteer rescuer, said the massive flooding set off by the typhoon turned an upscale riverside residential community in Cebu city on Tuesday into an unrecognisable scene of tumbled SUVs and houses in disarray.
Residents said floodwater engulfed the first floors of their houses in just a few minutes, sending them scrambling to upper floors or roofs in panic.
