Several killed as Typhoon Kompasu hits the Philippines

At least nine people have been killed in the northern and western Philippines and 16 others are missing due to floods and landslides caused by heavy rain from Typhoon Kompasu, the national disaster agency has said.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on Tuesday that four people were killed following a landslide in Benguet province, one person drowned in the northern province of Cagayan and four were swept away in a flash flood in Palawan province.

At least 16 people were missing in three provinces, local media reported, citing the NDRRMC. At least two others were injured.

Local media reported more than 2,000 people evacuated their homes in several towns and cities flooded and battered by pounding rains and wind that toppled trees and knocked down power

“Around seven to eight barangays (villages) are still flooded … due to clogged drainage or lack of drainage,” Earl Timbancaya, a disaster official in the city of Puerto Princesa in Palawan told AFP news agency.

“But it’s subsiding now.”

LOOK | Errosion due to #MaringPH in Luneta, Antamok, Itogon, Benguet. pic.twitter.com/HNY4KwKTl1

— The CSU Communicator (@csukomyu) October 12, 2021

Images posted on social media showed wooden huts hanging from an eroded hillside in Benguet.

A video showed several men and women frantically scooping corn from a flooded cornfield ready for harvest before the disaster hit.

Kompasu, also known in the Philippines as Typhoon Maring, hit the country with maximum sustained winds of 100km/h (62 mph), absorbing remnants of an earlier typhoon, before making landfall in the country on Monday night.

The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, is hit by about 20 storms or typhoons annually, bringing heavy rains that trigger deadly landslides.

President Rodrigo Duterte was monitoring the government’s disaster response, his spokesperson, Harry Roque said on Tuesday.

Rescue personnel were at the scene, while power and water restoration and road clearing was ongoing, he added.

Kompasu, the 13th tropical storm to enter the Philippines, is expected to leave its territory on Tuesday, the state weather agency said.