REPORTER:
Typhoon Kalmaegi has torn through the Philippines and killed at least 66 people. The typhoon brought destructive winds and flash floods to the island of Cebu. Authorities say the number of casualties is rising fast as rescue operations reach deeper into affected areas.
Rivers in the central Philippines burst their banks. Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall here on Tuesday, bringing what a local official called “unprecedented” damage to the island of Cebu.
One local farmer recounts the night the typhoon swept through his hometown:
It was strong. The wind last night was very strong, it was like we were being washed. We could not understand it. And there was also a flash flood brought by it.
In Talisay city, houses made from lightweight materials were torn apart; now only ruins remain.
As of Wednesday morning, the Philippine civil defense office says at least 66 people are dead, including six crew members of a military helicopter that crashed while heading to provide aid. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash.
In the meantime, the death toll is likely to climb as rescue teams try to find missing people in devastated towns along the river.
In coastal provinces, thousands evacuated to emergency shelters before the storm touched land, including this school that’s become a temporary evacuation center on Samar Island in the country’s northeast.
People here, still shaken by the urgent warning to flee.
Our place there is flooded. The water rose high because of the river. It’s dangerous there, though our house is okay since it’s made of concrete, but we’re avoiding the flood.
My family is still at home. They haven’t left yet. My children are still there. I don’t know where the rest of their families will evacuate to.
The Philippines is no stranger to storms and tends to face about 20 natural disasters every year. But in the last three months alone, the country has been battered by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake and two deadly storms, including Typhoon Ragasa that also ravaged Taiwan in late September.
As typhoon Kalmaegi now moves away towards the coast of Vietnam, residents here are beginning the painstaking work of rebuilding what has been lost to yet another storm.
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