60 dead in floods; 2.44-M affected nationwide

Waist-deep floods in Olongapo City. Twitter photo by @akosiranstedt

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The number of people killed in floods that submerged most of Metro Manila and parts of surrounding provinces this week has risen to 60, the government said Friday, August 10.

The death toll was triple the number confirmed on Thursday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Another 7 people were missing, it said in a statement.

The higher tally appeared to be mostly due to the council reporting deaths that occurred earlier in the week from areas outside of Manila, rather than new fatalities.

The number of people officially affected by the floods also rose to 2.44 million people, from 2.1 million recorded on Thursday, the council said.

More than a month’s worth of rain was dumped on Manila in 48 hours at the start of the week, leaving about 80% of the capital underwater and flooding vast farming areas to the north.

Of those, 362,000 are sheltering in evacuation centres, according to the council.

A total of 49 people died, 4 were injured and 6 are still missing as a consequence of the southwest monsoon floods in Luzon, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Thursday, August 9.

Last Thursday, in its 8pm situation update, the NDRRMC said 49 people died from the floods. Of these, 26 came from the NCR: 11 in Quezon City — including the 9 who perished in the landslide in Barangay Commonwealth –, 8 in Malabon, 3 in Caloocan and 1 each in Manila, Parañaque and Valenzuela. – Agence France-Presse

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