MANILA (AFP) – Philippine rescuers waded through chest-deep floodwaters yesterday to reach residents trapped by Tropical Storm Trami, which has killed seven people and forced thousands to evacuate as it barrels toward the east coast.
Torrential rain driven by the storm has turned streets into rivers, submerged entire villages and buried some vehicles in volcanic sediment set loose by the downpour.
At least 32,000 people have fled their homes in the northern Philippines, police said, as the storm edges closer to the Southeast Asian country’s main island of Luzon.
In the Bicol region, about 400 kilometres southeast of the capital Manila, “unexpectedly high” flooding was complicating rescue efforts, said police.
“We sent police rescue teams but they struggled to enter some areas because the flooding was high and the current was so strong,” regional police spokeswoman Luisa Calubaquib told AFP.
One person drowned inside a bus that was swept away by floodwaters in the Bicol city of Naga, where three others also drowned, police officer Bryan Ortinero told AFP.
An elderly woman drowned in Quezon province southeast of the capital, while a toddler was also killed after falling into a flooded canal, police said.
Manila’s civil defence office reported one person was killed by a falling tree branch.
As of 2pm (0600 GMT), Trami’s centre was 160 kilometres east of Luzon’s Aurora province with maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometres per hour, the national weather agency said.
Photos verified by AFP yesterday showed streets submerged by muddy floodwaters in Camarines Sur province’s Bato municipality, with only the roofs of houses and convenience stores visible.
“It’s getting dangerous. We’re waiting for rescuers,” resident Karen Tabagan told AFP.
