FLOOD STRIKES SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES, 45 DEAD MILLIONS DISPLACED

MANILA, Philippines - Another disaster strike Philippine. Tropical depression Lingling remained in the Pacific Ocean but poured 13 days of rain, with flash floods and landslides killing 45 people in the Philippines.

Eight people were reported missing, 68 injured and at least 900,000 affected in four regions as the storm was spotted 230km off southern Philippines’ eastern seaboard on Wednesday, officials said. 
The latest victim of the storm that is also known as Agaton was Richard Bustamante, 1, who suffered multiple injuries in Misamis Oriental, Region X where a total of seven residents were killed by the rains that started on January 10, said Undersecretary Eduardo del Rosario, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Nineteen others were killed in Caraga Region’s Dinagat Island, Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte provinces where several rivers have remained swollen for almost two weeks.
Elsewhere, 18 people were killed in Region XI’s Compostela Valley, a mining area, Davao Oriental, and Davao del Norte, areas where Typhoon Bopha, also known as Pablo, killed 1,900 last December 2012. One resident perished in Region IX’s Zamboanga del Norte, said del Rosario.

Some 895,572 residents were affected in 846 villages across four regions in the south. Twenty five per cent — or 260,478 residents — have taken shelter at 585 evacuation centres for more than 10 days, said del Rosario.

The affected areas could be further isolated because 50 roads and 25 bridges remained impassable. Some 639 passengers, nine vessels, 111 rolling cargo vessels, and five motor boats remained stranded, said del Rosario, adding that 2,130 houses were either totally or partially damaged.

Fatalities and injuries were linked to 16 incidents of landslides and six of flooding and flash floods, said del Rosario, adding that no one died in two maritime incidents that occurred off affected areas.

Lingling could further submerge all affected areas in the south. 
“It has not left the area of the southern Philippines and might continue pouring more rains there,” said weather forecaster Manny Mendoza of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

It has sent rains to the Visayas, central Philippines where 11 million survived and five million were rendered homeless as Typhoon Haiyan hit the area last November 8,” said Mendoza.

It was the first time that a weak low pressure area has continuously induced rains for almost two weeks on one island alone, said Mendoza.

Source: Agencies