MANILA: Four people were killed as another tropical storm swept across the Philippines yesterday, triggering landslides in the mountainous north and dumping more heavy rain on the flood-battered capital.
Tropical Storm Kai-tak hit the northeast of the main island of Luzon before dawn, dumping up to 35 millimeters (1.4 inches) of rain an hour on a vast farming region, the state weather bureau said.
Areas to the south that were trying to recover from devastating floods last week, including Manila, also endured strong rain, prompting authorities to warn residents in low-lying areas of the capital to be ready to evacuate.
Among the worst-hit areas yesterday were four small northern farming towns, where water reached neck-deep in some areas and landslides cut off a major highway, said Melchito Castro, civil defense chief in the region.
“We have been experiencing really heavy rains since last night, and our rescuers have evacuated some residents,” Castro told AFP by phone.
Two men suffocated to death inside a tunnel when a landslide hit a gold-rush site near the northern mountain resort of Baguio yesterday, while two other people drowned, authorities said.
The new fatalities bring to 99 the number of people who have died across Luzon due to the storms since the beginning of last week, the civil defense office said.
Norma Talosig, the civil defense chief for northeastern Luzon, said authorities there were closely watching the rising waters of the Cagayan river, the country's largest river basin, amid fears it could overflow.
At more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) long, the heavily silted Cagayan river is the longest in the country and cuts across four northeastern agricultural provinces.
Rain was also falling in and around Manila to the southwest, where more than 300,000 people were still in evacuation shelters following last week's floods.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said many low-lying farming areas near Manila remained flooded, and with the fresh rain there was little chance of the waters receding anytime soon.
