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MANILA • Philippine police and soldiers joined in the search for missing persons yesterday after Typhoon Vamco killed at least 42 people, as residents returned to devastated homes after the worst flooding in years in Manila and nearby provinces .
Vamco, the 21st and deadliest cyclone to hit the country this year, ripped through the main island of Luzon late Wednesday and early Thursday, just as the country was reeling from Goni, the world’s strongest typhoon this year. , which killed 25 people and razed thousands of homes.
Tens of thousands of homes were engulfed by the flooding, and as floodwaters receded in areas like Marikina, an eastern suburb of Manila, houses covered in rubble and caked with mud emerged.
“All the houses here were submerged in mud and water,” Mike Rusio, 51, told Reuters as he removed buckets full of mud from his two-story house.
Heavy equipment was being brought in to clean up furniture debris, trash and cars blocking roads.
Data released by the police showed that 42 people had died, 43 were injured and 20 were still missing. Successive typhoons, eight in the past two months, add to the challenges of a government battling community coronavirus infections and an economic downturn.
The disaster agency said nearly 75,000 people were still huddled in evacuation centers, some without adequate separation between families and many evacuees without masks.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the makeshift shelters increased the risk of transmission of Covid-19, along with leptospirosis and diarrhea. The Philippines has the second highest number of Covid-19 infections and victims in Southeast Asia, behind Indonesia.
Roughly 450,000 homes in and around Manila remain without power and virtual classes and government work remain on hold in Luzon, home to half of the Philippines’ 108 million people.
Vamco is closing in on central Vietnam, where devastating floods and landslides since the beginning of last month have killed at least 160 people. It is expected to make landfall today.
REUTERS
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