Flooding, landslides kill four in Philippines as tropical depression unleashes on Manila and nearby towns
Financial markets, government offices and schools were all closed and at least 21 flights were cancelled or diverted
A tropical depression dumped heavy rain on the Philippines on Tuesday, flooding metropolitan Manila and nearby provinces, causing landslides and flash floods that killed at least four people.
Six others were missing, including five residents of Laguna province, where floods swept away a house next to a swollen river, disaster relief officials said. The other missing person was reported in nearby Cavite province, where several areas were submerged.
Financial markets, government offices and schools were all closed and at least 21 flights were cancelled or diverted.
The country’s weather bureau said Tropical Depression Maring made landfall in eastern Quezon province on Tuesday morning and was moving northwest, with winds of 60km/h and gusts up to 100km/h. It warned that continued rains could trigger more floods and landslides in Manila and nearby areas that lay in the path of the storm.
Disaster response official Elmer Espiritu said two brothers aged 14 and 17 died when a landslide covered their home at the foot of a hill before dawn in Taytay town, east of Manila. Officials ordered mandatory evacuations in high risk areas after some residents refused to leave, he added.
In Quezon province, a two-month-old girl was killed and seven others were injured when heavy rains caused a concrete wall around a hospital to collapse on three houses in Lucena city, officials said.
Police also reported that a 12-year-old girl drowned in metropolitan Manila’s Pasay city while bathing in a river during the heavy downpour.
Meanwhile, 22 passengers on a bus stranded in floodwaters were rescued in Quezon province, officials said.
A stronger storm, Talim, was located 865km east of the Philippines’ northern tip and was moving toward Taiwan and eastern China.
Talim was due to make landfall on Taiwan late on Wednesday, and officials there were especially concerned about mudslides in mountainous parts of the island. Taiwan’s government was contacting the heads of mountain villages, arranging free evacuations to shelters, and monitoring rivers and mudslide-prone areas.
Talim was expected to hit China’s southeastern coast either Thursday or Friday.
