Cagayan de Oro, Philippines — Tropical Storm Penha caused flooding and a landslide in the southern Philippines, killing at least four people, displacing more than 6,000 residents and leaving others trapped in flooded homes, officials said Friday.
Penha made landfall late Thursday on Surigao del Sur province. By Friday around noon it was centered off central Bohol province with sustained winds up to 55 kilometres per hour (34 mph) and gusts near 70 kph (43 mph), Philippine forecasters reported.
A couple and two children were killed Thursday night when a shanty was struck by a landslide in a quarry area triggered by heavy rains in a village of southern Cagayan de Oro, Office of Civil Defence regional director Antonio Sugarol said.
In southern Iligan city, about 55 kilometres southwest of Cagayan de Oro, a resident called a radio station to ask for rescue after floodwaters rose to the second floor of her home, trapping her and three family members. Sugarol said rescuers were dispatched and teams were carrying out additional evacuations in the villages of Mahayahay and Tubod in Iligan.
More than 6,000 people were displaced by the storm, including around 5,800 who moved to evacuation centres across southern and central provinces. Schools were suspended in many affected areas, the Office of Civil Defence said.
Nearly 5,000 passengers and seaport workers were stranded at 94 ports after the Philippine Coast Guard temporarily barred interisland ferries and cargo ships from sailing because of rough seas. The storm’s rain-and-wind band stretched about 660 kilometres across the region.
Philippine weather officials forecast Penha would weaken into a tropical depression later Friday as it heads northwest across central islands toward western Palawan. The Philippines typically faces about 20 typhoons and storms each year and is widely regarded as one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries due to frequent storms, earthquakes and active volcanoes.
