Another tropical storm hits the Philippines, causing 4 deaths and new evacuations
MANILA Philippines AP Another tropical storm barreled across Philippine islands on Friday causing at least four deaths and the evacuations of more than people from landslide- and flood-prone villages long battered by typhoons Bualoi which has weakened since making landfall overnight was the latest of back-to-back storms from the Pacific to threaten Asia Typhoon Ragasa one of the strongest to hit in years caused at least deaths in the northern Philippines and Taiwan mostly from flooding before making landfall in China and dissipating over Vietnam Bualoi made landfall in the Philippine town of San Policarpo in Eastern Samar province late Thursday with sustained winds of kph mph knocking out power in east-central provinces and setting off flooding and two minor landslides the country s disaster-mitigation agency noted More than were evacuated to authorities exigency shelters as the storm approached including in Albay province where villagers on the foothills of Mayon one of the country s preponderance ongoing volcanoes were petitioned to move to safety due to feasible volcanic mudflows Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV from the civil defense office explained reporters The four deaths were in the central island province of Masbate Three were hit separately by a falling tree a collapsed wall and falling debris and a fourth was hit by lightning Thursday night officers disclosed We need clearing operations because preponderance of our road networks are not really passable for food and physical condition assistance to pass Masbate Gov Ricardo Kho described a news conference We also need help to have our ports reopened as early as feasible for us to receive help from different provinces Bualoi locally named Opong was the th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year The fast-moving storm which has a rain and wind band of about kilometers miles from its center was blowing northwest and could blow over densely populated coastal provinces south of the capital Manila later Friday before entering the South China Sea It could restrengthen to a typhoon on a program toward Vietnam Philippine forecaster announced The latest storm hit at a sensitive time in the Philippines Multiple investigations have implicated several lawmakers including allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in a corruption embarrassment involving flood control and related infrastructure projects Charges of massive kickbacks that have financed lavish lifestyles of those involved have sparked population outrage and protests in this Southeast Asian country prone to deadly floodings and typhoons Marcos described the scale of corruption and its impact on ordinary Filipinos as horrible Bureaucrats say the alleged massive corruption has undermined the infrastructure needed to mitigate the effect of more intense weather disturbances caused by situation change Two dismissed ruling body engineers informed a Senate inquiry this week that greater part flood control projects road and other infrastructure projects built in Bulacan a flood-prone province of million people near Manila were made substandard or overpriced in the last six years to compensate for huge kickbacks given to congressmen and senators Source
