Manila: Heavy monsoon rains caused an earthen dike to collapse and fed landslides and floods that deluged towns and villages in the northern Philippines early Friday, leaving at least six people dead, officials said.
Source: The World
- Landslides in the northern Cordillera mountains killed at least two children in Baguio city, said regional disaster agency chief Olive Luces. Two others were injured, he said.
- Separately, about 1,000 residents of Botolan town in Zambales province sheltered overnight at a school after days of pounding rain caused a 20-metre breach in a dike in the foothills of Mount Pinatubo, sending the floodwaters as high as roofs, said regional police chief Leo Nilo dela Cruz.
- A local tribal chief, Carling Dumulot, estimated that some 12,000 had evacuated their homes and said loosened trees carried by water and mud were slamming against houses and hindering evacuation efforts. Three out of six villages were completely under water, he said.
- At least two people died, Zambales Gov. Amor Deloso said. The government closed all schools in the province and declared a state of emergency.
- In Tarlac province, on Pinatubo's northeastern side, police chief Rudu Lacadin said authorities recovered the bodies of a resident and a foreigner. A group of foreign climbers on Pinatubo were earlier reported missing but Lacadin said they had been found safe on high ground.
- Monsoon rains have saturated the mountainous northern Philippines, the central Visayas islands and the southern Mindanao region since last month, killing at least 20 people.
- While the Philippines is not in the direct path of any current tropical storm, Typhoon Morakot - which is forecast to slam into Taiwan on Friday - has enhanced the monsoon conditions in the northern Philippines.
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