MANILA, Dec 19 (NNN-PNA) – The death toll from Typhoon Rai that battered the Philippines earlier this week has climbed to at least 65, local officials said today.
The number of deaths is likely to rise as data gathering from the field continues in the wake of the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year.
Officials said, 49 died in Bohol province, six in Southern Leyte province, in the central Philippines, and 10 in Dinagat Islands, in the southern Philippines.
Yesterday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said, it received reports of 31 deaths in central and southern Philippines and one missing. The NDRRMC has yet to update its death tally.
Communications are still down in typhoon-ravaged areas, making it difficult for the NDRRMC to contact its regional and provincial agencies.
“Presently, communications are still down, proof of which only 21 mayors out of 48 have reached us. They have reported at least 49 deaths from their towns with 10 missing and 13 injured,” Bohol Governor, Arthur Yap said, in a video message he posted on Facebook.
Bohol, a province in the central Philippines, is still without electricity. Yap said, it might take up to three weeks to restore power in the affected areas, and the residents of some hardest-hit towns were asking for food and water.
Jeffrey Crisostomo, the spokesperson for Dinagat Islands province, said, at least 10 people have died from the typhoon, and five more are missing.
Lord Byron Torrecarion, the director of the Office of Civil Defence, in the Eastern Visayas region, reported six deaths and one missing in Southern Leyte province.
Typhoon Rai made landfall on the Surigao Island on Thursday afternoon. It was blowing maximum winds of 195 km per hour and with gusts of up to 240 km per hour, when it slammed into the island, in Surigao del Norte province.
The typhoon swelled rivers and flooded low-lying areas while cutting through towns and villages in the central Philippines and northern Mindanao in the south of the country.
The NDRRMC said, Rai affected more than 700,000 people, caused power outages, damaged buildings and houses in nine regions. The damage to crops and infrastructure is still being calculated.– NNN-PNA
