PHOTO CAPTION:•A rescuer carries a child to safer grounds amid flooding in the Philippines caused
Tropical Storm Nalgae has killed at least 72 people and injured 33 in the Philippines, the country’s disaster agency said Saturday.
A further 14 people are still missing after the storm, known locally as Paeng, made landfall on Friday packing winds of 75 kilometers (46 miles) per hour.
The death toll rose sharply overnight, said the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, with provinces and cities in the south being hit the hardest.
A “state of calamity” has been declared in the city of Cotabatao on Mindanao Island, where some 67,000 residents have been affected by the storm.
Upi, a nearby town with a population of just 60,000, has been inundated, the disaster council reported – with thousands being forced to higher ground.
Photos and videos of search and rescue efforts showed bodies being pulled from the water and thick mud and residents trapped on rooftops.
Storms are expected to hit the capital Manila and nearby provinces over the weekend, state weather officials say, as Nalgae cuts through the main Luzon Island and heads to the South China Sea. (CNN)
