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Manila (AFP)
At least two people were killed and hundreds were forced to flee their flooded homes in the Philippines when torrential rains triggered flooding and landslides in the storm-ravaged archipelago, authorities said Saturday.
Huge waves crashed into a coastal town on Lapu-Lapu Island in the central province of Cebu on Friday night, washing away dozens of houses and leaving about 290 people homeless, Mayor Junard Chan said on Facebook.
Photos posted online by the mayor showed piles of wood and bamboo near the few houses that still stood after the region was soaked by heavy rains.
Rescue teams recovered the bodies of two elderly women who died when a landslide struck an area of the town of Mahaplag before dawn in nearby Leyte province, police said Racquel Hernández.
A boy was also pulled from the rubble of his home and treated for his injuries, Hernández told AFP.
About 1,500 people were forced from their homes on the main southern island of Mindanao when floods engulfed 13 villages, the National Council for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management said.
The Philippines is affected by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, which often wipe out crops, homes and infrastructure in already impoverished areas.
The latest storm comes after a succession of typhoons in recent months hit the country, claiming the lives of 148 people, destroying hundreds of thousands of homes, destroying cash crops and leaving swaths of the country without power.
© 2020 AFP