Typhoon Kalmaegi leaves 66 dead, mainly in Philippine province still recovering from deadly quake

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Kalmaegi has left at least 66 people dead with 26 others missing in the central Philippines, many in widespread flooding that trapped people on their roofs and swept away cars in a hard-hit province still recovering from a deadly earthquake, officials said Wednesday.

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. 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.

Kalmaegi blew away from western Palawan province into the South China Sea before noon Wednesday with sustained winds of up to 130 kph (81 mph) and gusts of up to 180 kph (112 mph), according to forecasters.

Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense, and provincial officials said 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 swell.

The resulting flooding engulfed residential communities, forcing startled residents to climb on their roofs, where they desperately pleaded to be rescued as the floodwaters rose, officials said.

The Philippine Red Cross received many calls from people needing rescue in Cebu from their roofs, its secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang said Tuesday.

At least 49 drowned in floods and others died as a result of landslides and falling debris in Cebu, where 13 of the 26 missing were reported, the Office of Civil Defense said on Wednesday.

“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 unrecognizable 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.

“We always expect the worst and what I saw yesterday was the worst,” Ramirez told The AP. He described how the faces of desperate residents would light up when they realized they were being rescued.

The problems may have been made worse by years of quarrying that caused clogging of nearby rivers, which overflowed, and substandard flood control projects in Cebu province, Baricuatro said.

A corruption scandal involving substandard or non-existent flood control projects across the Philippines has sparked public outrage and street protests in recent months.

Cebu, a bustling province of more than 2.4 million people, declared a state of calamity to allow authorities to disburse emergency funds more rapidly.

Cebu was still recovering from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 30 that left at least 79 people dead and displaced thousands when houses collapsed or were severely damaged.

Thousands of northern Cebu residents who were displaced by the earthquake were moved to sturdier evacuation shelters from flimsy tents before the typhoon struck, Baricuatro said. Northern towns devastated by the earthquake were mostly not hit by floods generated by Kalmaegi, she added.

Before Kalmaegi’s landfall, officials said more than 387,000 people had evacuated to safer ground in eastern and central Philippine provinces.

Ferries and fishing boats were prohibited from venturing out to increasingly rough seas, stranding more than 3,500 passengers and cargo truck drivers in nearly 100 seaports, the coast guard said. At least 186 domestic flights were canceled.

The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. The country also is often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

Central Vietnam, still reeling from days of record rain that triggered flash floods and landslides, was bracing for more pounding rain as Kalmaegi nears.

Fishing boats returned to shore while local authorities readied evacuation plans, secured shelters and stockpiled food, state media reported.

Forecasters estimate the storm will reach Vietnam’s coast Friday morning.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s weather agency issued an advisory for the northern, eastern and central parts of the country, warning that Kalmaegi would bring heavy rain Friday and into the weekend that could cause flash floods, landslides and river overflows.

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Associated Press journalists Aniruddha Ghosal in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul in Bangkok contributed to this report.