Many of the deaths occurred in landslides and flooding caused as the storm made landfall on Sunday and hit the east and south coasts of the Philippines with sustained winds of up to 40 miles per hour and gusts of up to 50 mph ( 49 km/h).
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said at least 29 people were missing and eight others were injured.
More than 920,000 people were affected by the storm, over 200,000 people were displaced, while more than 35,000 were evacuated as a precaution, the council said. Around 660 evacuation centers are operational, he added.
Agricultural damage caused by Megi, known as Agaton in the Philippines, is estimated at more than $8 million (423.8 million Philippine pesos) on Wednesday — double the amount reported a day earlier, the said Ministry of Agriculture.
At least 6,557 farmers and 10,920 hectares of farmland have been affected by commodities such as rice, corn and livestock hit by the tropical storm, the department added.
The hardest-hit regions include Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Caraga.
In eastern Leyte province, the bodies of 22 people have been recovered after being buried under a landslide, Baybay City Police Chief Joemen Collado told reporters earlier this week. “There were landslides in communities and then some of the victims were swept away by floods,” Collado said.
The mayor of Abuyog, in Leyte province, said on Facebook that a landslide “wiped out” Pilar, a local barangay, or neighborhood, in a “disaster that broke my heart.”
The landslide had occurred as precautionary evacuation efforts were underway, Lemuel Gin K. Traya said in his post.
“We have used every means possible to save the people of Barangay Pilar. We were able to rescue and save some wounded children, elderly, injured and those in need.
“As of today, the survivors are on medication and well cared for. All evacuees, on the other hand, are safe and under our care.”
Images shared by the local fire department on Monday showed rescue workers wading through water near partially submerged houses and digging for survivors in a landslide-hit area.
Megi, which was downgraded to a tropical depression on Monday, became the first storm to hit the archipelago this year. The country experiences about 20 such storms annually.
The Philippines is still suffering the effects of Super Typhoon Rai, the strongest typhoon to hit the country in 2021. Rai, known locally as Odette, killed more than 300 people and injured more than 500 people, CNN affiliate CNN Philippines reported, citing the Philippine National Police.