Santa Rosa, Philippines // Residents of flooded farming villages in the Philippines were trapped on their rooftops on Monday and animals floated down fast-rising rivers, as the death toll from Typhoon Koppu climbed to 16.
Koppu, the second strongest storm to hit the disaster-plagued South-east Asian archipelago this year, has killed at least two people and forced more than 60,000 people from their homes.
After making landfall on Sunday morning on the east coast of Luzon, the Philippines’ biggest island, the slow-moving typhoon has brought heavy rain to some of the nation’s most important farming areas.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s the worst flood I’ve seen in my entire life,” farmer Reynaldo Ramos, 68, said as he walked through knee-deep water in Santa Rosa, about two hours’ drive north of Manila.
Military, government and volunteer rescue units equipped with rubber boats were trying to help residents in dozens of flooded villages, according to Nigel Lontoc, a regional rescue official.
“The floods are rising fast and some people are now on their rooftops,” Mr Lontoc said, but added there were not enough rescuers.
Mr Lontoc said many thousands of people may be stranded in those villages, although it was too early to determine an exact number.
In the deadliest single incident related to Koppu, seven passengers aboard a small ferry were killed when it capsized in rough seas off the central island of Guimaras on Sunday.
Three people were confirmed killed in Aurora province, where the storm made landfall, and four in the farming regions just north of Manila. Most of those fatalities were due to drowning or being struck by fallen trees or other objects.
The storm is forecast to continue dumping heavy rains across the Philippines until Wednesday.
* Agence France-Presse
