The death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi climbed to 66 in the Philippines on Wednesday as residents of hardest-hit Cebu province began digging through homes and businesses devastated by the worst flooding in recent memory.
Floodwaters described as unprecedented had rushed through towns and cities, sweeping away cars, trucks and even massive shipping containers.
Cebu accounted for 49 of the fatalities, civil defence deputy administrator Rafaelito Alejandro said in an interview with local radio station DZMM, confirming the overall tally.
“It was the major cities that got hit [with floods], highly urbanised areas,” Alejandro said, adding that 26 people remained missing. “All the floods have subsided. Our challenge now is the clearing of this debris that is blocking our roads.”
On Wednesday morning, residents cleaned up streets that had been rivers the day before.
“The flood here yesterday was really severe,” Reynaldo Vergara, 53, said, adding that everything in his small shop had been washed away.
“The river overflowed. That’s where the water came from,” he said. “Around four or five in the morning, the water was so strong that you couldn’t even step outside … nothing like this has ever happened. The water was raging.”
In the 24 hours before Kalmaegi’s landfall, the area around Cebu City was deluged with 183mm (seven inches) of rain, well over its 131mm monthly average, weather specialist Charmagne Varilla said.
On Tuesday, provincial governor Pamela Baricuatro called the situation “unprecedented”.
“We were expecting the winds to be the dangerous part, but … the water is what’s truly putting our people at risk,” she told reporters. “The floodwaters are just devastating.”
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change. Warmer oceans allow typhoons to strengthen rapidly, and a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, meaning heavier rainfall.
In total, nearly 400,000 people were pre-emptively moved from the typhoon’s path.
The Philippine military confirmed on Tuesday that a helicopter, one of four deployed to assist typhoon relief efforts, had crashed on northern Mindanao island.
The Eastern Mindanao Command said in a statement that the Super Huey helicopter went down while en route to the coastal city of Butuan. It had intended to support relief operations related to the powerful storm. The statement also said search and recovery operations were under way.
Hours later, air force spokeswoman Colonel Maria Christina Basco said the remains of six people had been recovered by troops.
“We’re waiting to confirm the identities via forensics in order to ascertain their identities,” she told reporters, saying two pilots and four crew members were on board.
As of 8am on Wednesday, Typhoon Kalmaegi was moving westwards towards the tourist hotspots of Palawan, with winds of 120km/h (75mph) and gusts of 165km/h (102mph).
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, routinely striking disaster-prone areas where millions live in poverty. With Kalmaegi, the archipelagic country has already reached that average, weather specialist Varilla said, adding at least “three to five more” storms could be expected by December’s end.
The Philippines was hit by two major storms in September, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which tore the roofs off buildings on its way to killing 14 people in nearby Taiwan.
