The death toll from landslides and floods in the Philippines rose to 123 on Wednesday, with dozens missing and feared dead, officials said, as rescuers dug up more bodies with their bare hands and backhoes in destroyed villages.
Most of the deaths from Tropical Storm Megi – which hit the archipelago hardest this year – occurred in the central province of Leyte, where a series of landslides devastated communities.
Eighty-six of the victims were in Baybay, a mountainous area in the province, where 236 people were also injured, the city government said in a report. Waves of sodden earth had smashed into agricultural settlements in the town of Baybay.
In the coastal village of Pilar, part of Abuyog Municipality, 26 people died and about 150 were missing after a torrent of mud and earth washed houses into the sea on Tuesday, burying most of the settlement, authorities said.
“I have to be honest, we’re not expecting any more survivors,” Abuyog Mayor Lemuel Traya said, adding that emergency services were now concentrating on the difficult task of recovering bodies.
About 250 people were in evacuation centers after being rescued by boat after roads were cut by landslides, he said. Some villagers were also in the hospital.
A rumble like “a helicopter” alerted Ara Mae Canuto, 22, to the landslide heading toward her family’s home in Pilar. She said she tried to run away from him but was washed into the water and nearly drowned.
“I’ve been swallowing dirt and my ears and nose are full of mud,” Canuto said over the phone from her hospital bed. Her father died and her mother was not found.
Megi, which made landfall on Sunday with sustained winds of up to 65 km/h and gusts of up to 80 km/h, has since dissipated.
The disaster-prone region is regularly battered by storms – including a direct hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 – and scientists warn they will intensify as the world warms due to human-caused climate change.
Aerial footage showed a wide expanse of mud that had swept down a coconut palm hillside and engulfed the village of Bunga, where few rooftops pierced the now-transformed landscape.
The Philippine Coast Guard evacuates residents from flooded homes on a makeshift raft in the city of Panitan, Capiz province. Photo: Philippine Coast Guard/AFP/Getty Images“We were told to be on alert because a storm was coming, but they didn’t tell us directly that we had to evacuate,” said Bunga farm worker Loderica Portarcos, 47, who lost 17 relatives and a friend in the landslide .
Portarcos braved the heat and humidity as she advised a backhoe operator where to dig for three bodies still embedded in the soft earth that was beginning to smell of rotting flesh.
“Our dead relatives are all in the morgue, but we won’t have time to mourn them because the mayor told us they smell bad,” she said.
Three people were also killed in the central province of Negros Oriental and three on the southern main island of Mindanao, according to the national disaster agency.
Black body bags containing 26 victims from Pilar were laid out in the sand in Abuyog on Wednesday for relatives to identify.
Abuyog Police Chief Captain James Mark Ruiz said more boats were needed but access to shore was difficult.
Photos posted to Facebook by the Bureau of Fire Protection showed buildings destroyed or overturned by the force of the landslide and debris in the water.
“We use fiberglass boats and there are exposed steel poles in the sea, so it’s very difficult,” said Abuyog Mayor Traya, adding that the bottom was unstable and “very risky”.
While Pilar survivor Canuto considers herself lucky to be alive, she said, “Many of us have died and many are missing as well.”
Pope Francis expressed his solidarity with the victims, the Vatican said in a statement.
“It also offers assurances of prayers for the dead, injured and displaced and for those involved in recovery efforts,” it said. “His Holiness willingly invokes God’s blessings on all Filipino people.”
Megi whipped up the seas, forcing dozens of ports to temporarily suspend operations, stranding thousands of people at the start of Holy Week, one of the busiest travel times of the year in the Philippines.
It came four months after Super Typhoon Rai devastated much of the country, killing more than 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
The Philippines, which is among the countries hardest hit by the impacts of climate change, is hit by an average of 20 storms annually.