Storm moves away from northern Philippines, leaving 82 dead, but forecasters warn it could do a 180-degree turn

MANILA, Philippines — MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Tropical Storm Trami The wind moved away from the northwestern Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 82 people dead in landslides and major flooding that forced authorities to search for more rescue boats to save thousands of terrified people, who were trapped, some in their roofs.

But the onslaught may not be over: State forecasters raised the rare possibility that the storm, the 11th and one of the deadliest to hit the Philippines this year, could do a U-turn next week as it is pushed toward back by high pressure winds. in the South China Sea.

A Philippine provincial police chief said Friday that 49 people were killed, most in landslides triggered by Trami in Batangas province, south of Manila. That brought the total death toll from the storm to at least 82.

Eleven other villagers remain missing in Batangas, Col. Jacinto Malinao Jr. told The Associated Press by phone from the lake town of Talisay, where he stood with a villager whose wife and son were buried in a deep mound of mud, rocks and trees. .

Using a backhoe and shovels, police scrambled through 10 feet (3 meters) of mud, rocks and debris and found a portion of the head and foot that appeared to be those of the missing woman and child.

“He’s just devastated,” Malinao said of the villager, a fisherman, whose wife and son were buried in the landslide that occurred Thursday afternoon amid torrential rains while he was tending fish cages at a lake.

“He is in shock and cannot speak and we just ask him to point out where his room was located so we can excavate that part,” Malinao said.

The storm was last tracked Friday afternoon, blowing 410 kilometers (255 miles) west of Ilocos Sur province in the northwestern Philippines, with sustained winds up to 95 kph (59 mph) and gusts of up to 115 kph (78 mph). It was moving northwest at 30 kilometers per hour (19 mph) toward Vietnam, which is forecast to be hit by Trami starting Sunday if it maintains its course.

The Philippine weather agency, however, said high-pressure winds and other weather factors in the South China Sea are likely to force the storm back toward the Philippines.

President Ferdinand Marcos, appearing exasperated, asked about that prospect at an emergency meeting with cabinet members and disaster response officials on Friday about the response to the widespread devastation.

“What’s the prognosis for that? Is it possible he’ll come back?” Mark asked.

A government forecaster told Trami could turn toward the western Philippines early next week, but is more likely to move away from the Philippines again without making landfall.

“It doesn’t have to make landfall for damage to occur,” Marcos said, citing the continued rains brought on by Trami in the Philippines.

Marcos also cited another storm brewing in the Pacific Ocean that could threaten the country again.

“Oh God, it is what it is. We just have to deal with it,” Marcos said.

State forecaster Jofren Habaluyas told the AP that Trami’s possible U-turn has piqued the interest of government weather experts in Asia, including those in Japan, which has been providing information to the Philippines to help track the storm.

The 82 storm deaths included 26 villagers who died in floods and landslides in Bicol, an agricultural region and tourist destination southeast of Manila that is popular for Mayon, one of the country’s 24 most active volcanoes that has a nearly perfect cone. .

According to Malinao and the Office of Civil Defense, at least 27 people are still missing in several provinces, including 17 in Batangas.

Although Trami did not become a typhoon, it dumped unusually heavy rain on some regions, including some that recorded one or two months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours, inundating communities with flash floods.

Authorities in the city of Naga, where 11 people drowned, and the outlying provinces of Camarines Sur and Albay called for more rescue boats to be sent at the height of the attack to reach people trapped on the upper floors of their buildings. houses or on their roofs as the waters rose. .

In the foothills of mayon volcano In Albay province, mud and other debris cascaded toward nearby towns as the storm hit, engulfing homes and cars in streams of black mud.

More than 2.6 million people were affected by the deluge, and nearly 320,000 people fled to evacuation centers or relatives’ homes, disaster mitigation officials said.

The government closed schools and government offices for a third day on Friday to keep millions of people safe on the main northern island of Luzon. Inter-island ferry services were also suspended, leaving thousands of people stranded.

In Vietnam, state meteorologists warned of heavy rain in the central region. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh ordered coastal provinces to remain alert, closely monitor the course of Trami and prepare for contingencies.

last month, Typhoon Yagi hit Vietnam, killing 323 people and causing extensive damage valued at $3.3 billion, according to a Vietnamese government report.

Every year, about 20 storms and typhoons hit the Philippines, a Southeast Asian archipelago that lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyanone of the strongest tropical cyclones on record, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and devastated entire towns.

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Dinh reported from Hanoi, Vietnam.