Tropical storm leaves 8 dead, thousands displaced in Philippines after flooding and a landslide

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (AP) — A tropical storm set off flooding and a landslide in the southern Philippines, leaving at least eight people dead, displacing more than 28,000 and trapping residents in houses in two flooded villages, officials said Friday.

Tropical Storm Penha slammed ashore onto the southeastern province of Surigao del Sur from the Pacific late Thursday. It weakened into a tropical depression Friday night and was last tracked off the central province of Cebu with sustained winds of up to 55 kilometers (34 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 75 kph (47 mph), according to the country’s weather agency.

A couple and two children died Thursday night when their shanty was hit by a landslide in a quarry area that was set off by torrential rains in a village in southern Cagayan de Oro city, Office of Civil Defense regional director Antonio Sugarol said.

Three others drowned in floodwaters in southern Iligan city and another villager drowned in Carmen town in Agusan del Norte province, also in the south, the Office of Civil Defense said.

In Iligan city, more than 80 kilometers (48 miles) southwest of Cagayan de Oro, a resident called the DZMM radio network Friday morning and pleaded to be rescued from the second floor of her house as floodwater rose and trapped her family and three other families.

“Rescuers are on the way,” Sugarol told the frantic resident over the radio, saying other families were being rescued in the villages of Mahayahay and Tubod in Iligan city.

More than 28,000 villagers were displaced due to the storm, with most evacuating to emergency shelters in southern and central provinces. Classes were suspended in many areas, the Office of Civil Defense said.

More than 7,400 passengers and cargo workers were stranded in 78 seaports after interisland passenger ferries and cargo ships were temporarily prohibited from venturing into rough seas, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

The storm, which has a 660-kilometer- (410-mile-) wide rain and wind band, hit ahead of summer when the least number of storms lash the Philippine archipelago, government forecaster Robert Badrina said.

Penha, locally named Basyang, was forecast to further weaken as it blows northwestward across central island provinces, government forecasters said.

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.