Towns in the Philippines submerged by storm Trami

Photo: Ted Aljibe Agence France-Presse People cross a river next to a bridge that collapsed after the river overflowed due to heavy rains brought by Tropical Storm Trami in Laurel, Batangas province, south of Manila, on October 25, 2024.

Agence France-Presse in Laurel, Philippines

Published at 18:38

• Asia

The death toll from tropical storm Trami, which has submerged several cities in the Philippines, has risen to more than 60 on Friday, according to an AFP count based on official local figures.

A previous report put the death toll at around forty.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by flooding caused by torrential rains. Some areas have seen two months’ worth of rain in just two days.

“Many [residents] are still stuck on the roofs of their homes and are asking for help,” Andre Dizon, the police chief in the hard-hit Bicol region, 400 kilometers south of Manila, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“We hope the flooding will subside today, since the rain has stopped,” he said.

Photo: Zalrian Sayat Agence France-Presse A woman tries to salvage clothes from her store, damaged by flooding caused by Tropical Storm Trami in Naga, Camarines Sur, on October 25, 2024.

Waterlogged Grounds

Accessibility remains a major challenge for rescuers, President Ferdinand Marcos said at a press conference. “There have been landslides in areas where there were none before […]. So I guess the ground is completely saturated and the water has nowhere to go.”

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The cities of Naga and Legazpi are reporting “many casualties, but we have not been able to get to the scene yet,” Marcos said.

In Laurel, a picturesque town near the volcanic Taal Lake south of the capital Manila, AFP journalists saw roads blocked by fallen trees, vehicles half-submerged in mud and homes badly damaged by flash floods.

“We saw washing machines, cars, household appliances, roofs blown away,” resident Mimie Dionela, 56, told AFP.

“We are lucky that [the rain] fell in the morning because many would have died if it had fallen at night,” she added. “It's unbelievable how scared we were.”

After the storm left the Philippines early Friday morning toward the South China Sea, more casualties were reported.

In Batangas province, south of Manila, the number of confirmed deaths more than doubled to 34, police told a local radio station Friday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Police Master Sergeant Nelson Cabuso told AFP that six unidentified bodies had been found in the village of Sampaloc in the province.

Five others were killed in a flash flood in the coastal village of Subic Ilaya, according to Police Corporal Alvin de Leon,

Police in the Bicol region also reported a total of 28 deaths on Friday, while two more bodies were found in Quezon province, one each in Zambales and Masbate.

Photo: Ted Aljibe Agence France-Presse People walk past destroyed vehicles washed away with debris from logs due to heavy rains brought by Tropical Storm Trami in Laurel, Batangas province, south of Manila, on October 25, 2024.

193,000 people evacuated

According to an AFP tally based on figures from police and disaster management officials, the death toll from the storm has now exceeded 60.

In Manila, a housing development south of the capital was largely submerged.

Schools and government offices remained closed Friday on the main island of Luzon, and Storm warnings were still in effect on the west coast, where waves could reach two metres.

According to an official count on Thursday, 193,000 people have been evacuated due to the flooding.

The Philippines is regularly hit by storms or typhoons, causing damage and dozens of deaths each year.

But experts say storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to shore, intensifying more quickly and lasting longer on land due to climate change.