Philippine officials say 98 people have died in one of the most destructive storms to lash the Philippines this year.
Rescuers carry a body at Maguindanao's Datu Odin Sinsuat town, southern Philippines on Sunday Oct. 30, 2022. Victims of a huge mudslide set off by Tropical Storm Nalgae in a coastal Philippine village that had once been devastated by a killer tsunami mistakenly thought a tidal wave was coming and ran to higher ground toward a mountain and were buried alive, an official said Sunday.
The government’s main disaster-response agency also reported 69 people were injured in the onslaught and at least 63 others remain missing. “When the people heard the warning bells, they ran up and gathered in a church on a high ground,” Sinarimbo told The Associated Press on Saturday, citing accounts by Kusiong villagers.
Lying between the Moro Gulf and 446-meter Mount Minandar, Kusiong was among the hardest hit by the 1976 catastrophe. The village never forgot the tragedy. Elderly villagers who survived the tsunami and powerful earthquake passed on the nightmarish story to their children, warning them to be prepared.
Nearly 200 domestic and international flights were canceled, Manila’s international airport was briefly closed amid stormy weather and voyages in storm-whipped seas were prohibited by the coast guard, stranding thousands of passengers.