(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) Manila and nearby towns braced on Saturday for Tropical Storm
Nalgae, which has killed 45 people, mostly because of landslides in
southern provinces of the Philippines, reports with reference to .
The Southeast Asian nation's disaster agency reduced its death
toll to 45 from 72 after checking reports from ground staff,
including rescue workers searching for 18 missing persons.
Residents in the capital's coastal area were evacuated while
classes across all levels were suspended, according to the mayor's
office.
Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan ordered the closure of the
city's cemeteries, where millions had been expected to visit during
the extended All Saints' Day weekend, on Saturday.
The tropical storm, which has maximum sustained winds of 95
kilometres (60 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 130 kph (80 mph),
has made multiple landfall in the eastern Philippines on
Saturday.
The state weather agency, in its latest bulletin, warned of
widespread flooding and landslides because of heavy and at times
torrential rains over the capital region and nearby provinces as
Nalgae cuts through the main Luzon island and heads to the South
China Sea.
Airlines have cancelled 116 domestic and international flights
to and from the Philippines' main gateway. Nearly 7,500 passengers,
drivers, and cargo helpers and 107 vessels were stranded in ports,
the coast guard said.
Government agencies were giving aid and food packs to affected
families, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Twitter.
Coast guard personnel guided residents through chest-deep
floods, with rescuers using a monobloc plastic chair and an old
refrigerator to carry children and elderly people in the central
Leyte province, according to photos shared by the agency.
The bulk of the deaths, at 40, have been reported in the
southern Maguindanao province.
'We are not discounting the possibility of more casualties,'
Cyrus Torrena, provincial administrator of Maguindanao, told DZMM
radio station. 'But we pray it does not go up significantly.'
The Philippines sees an average of 20 tropical storms annually.
In December, category 5 typhoon Rai ravaged central provinces,
leaving 407 dead and more than 1,100 injured.
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