Nine people were killed and six went missing after days of heavy monsoon rains caused flooding and several accidents in the Philippines, disaster relief officials said yesterday.
More than 20,000 people were also forced to flee their homes in the affected areas, including the capital Manila, according to Ricardo Jalad, head of the country’s Office of Civil Defence.
Most of those killed drowned in floods and swollen rivers, while two died when a collapsed wall crushed their homes, he added.
Four of the missing are workers who were trapped in a tunnel project in the eastern province of Quezon when a flashflood occurred, while two are fishermen who sailed in the bad weather, Jalad said.
Heavy rains have battered a wide area in eastern and northern parts of the Philippines since last week, according to the weather bureau. The rough weather was expected to continue throughout the week after a new low pressure area was spotted off the country’s eastern coast,
the bureau said, warning of the possibility for more floods and landslides.