At least 116 people have died and about half a million have been forced to evacuate due to Typhoon Kalmaegi. It became one of the deadliest storms to hit the Philippines in recent years. This is reported by Bloomberg.
Typhoon Kalmaegi (local name – Tino) caused widespread flooding in the central provinces of the country, in particular in Cebu, where the highest number of victims was recorded. According to the emergency management service, flash floods inundated entire settlements, forcing people to take refuge on the roofs of their homes.
Most of the dead were victims of falling trees, building debris or powerful streams of water. A Philippine Air Force helicopter crashed during the rescue operation, killing six crew members.
According to the latest data from the national meteorological service (PAGASA), the typhoon has weakened somewhat. Maximum sustained winds are now 120 kilometers per hour, with gusts reaching 165 km/h. However, in some areas of Palawan province, located near the South China Sea, the second level of danger on the five-level typhoon warning scale remains in effect. Forecasters expect the storm to leave the Philippines on Thursday morning and head towards Vietnam.
Kalmaegi became the twentieth cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, and again drew attention to a corruption scandal related to the embezzlement of billions of pesos allocated for flood control projects. The Philippines, which experiences about twenty powerful storms each year, remains one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
