MANILA - At least 181 people were killed in a series of landslides and floods brought about by days of heavy rains in the northern Philippines, officials said Friday.
Thousands of people were also trapped on the roofs of their houses in more than 20 towns in Pangasinan province because of floods that have turned roads and highways into raging rivers.
Rescue operations moved slowly as helpers struggled with debris and vehicles blocking the streets as well as the floodwaters.
US troops were dispatched to several areas in Pangasinan to help in the rescue operations.
Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino appealed for more aircraft to reach towns that could not be accessed by boats because of strong currents.
“We have enough food to feed the evacuees, but the problem is how to bring those people trapped in their flooded homes to evacuation centres,” he said.
The latest toll was on top of 25 people killed in earlier accidents caused by Typhoon Parma when it first slammed into the northern Philippines Oct 3.
Seventy of the new fatalities were killed in landslides in La Trinidad town in Benguet province, 210 km north of Manila, Governor Nestor Fongwan said.
“There is a place in La Trinidad where a mountain crushed and buried at least 32 houses,” he said of a Friday landslide. “It occurred before dawn, and people were sound asleep and were not able to escape.”
He said rescue workers were using picks and shovels as they could not use heavy equipment because the soil was unstable.
Senior Superintendent Loreto Espinili, the provincial police commander, said 42 more were killed in separate landslides in the towns of Mankayan, Dumapo Tublay, Bokod and Atok.
“We believe the death toll will still increase because the landslides were massive,” he said, adding that rampaging floods were worsening the situation in the affected areas.
Thirty people were also killed in separate landslides in the northern resort city of Baguio while one was killed in Ifugao province.
In Mountain Province, 28 people were killed in a landslide in Tadian town, according to rescue officials.
At least 10 more people were killed in accidents related to the disasters in the provinces of La Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Abra and Pangasinan, said Chief Superintendent Ramon Gatan, a regional police director.
“The floods are devastating,” he said. “Almost entire towns are under water now.”
Floods also submerged a large portion of the northern plains - including the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pampanga and Bulacan - after days of heavy rains brought about by a weakened Parma.
The floods worsened when five dams in the northern Philippines were forced to release water after their levels became critical because of the heavy rainfall.
Parma has hovered over the northern provinces and hit land two more times after its initial Oct 3 landfall after it was sucked in by Typhoon Melor, which passed by the country on its way to Japan.
The weather bureau said Parma was moving out of the Philippines but would affect the country for the next two days. It was moving at 11 km per hour toward the South China Sea.
Parma’s havoc followed the worst floods in more than 40 years in Manila and its outlying provinces brought about last month by Tropical Storm Ketsana, which killed 337 people and left 37 missing.
More than four million people were affected by Ketsana with nearly 300,000 forced to stay in evacuation centres.
The two storms have caused damage to agriculture and infrastructure amounting to at least 12.4 billion pesos ($269.5 million).
The Philippines has received more than $94 million in assistance from the international community after the UN issued a flash appeal for help.
The UN said Undersecretary General John Holmes would visit Manila Monday to oversee the disaster relief response.
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