Storm barrels in from northern Philippines, killing 82 people, but forecasters warn it could cause retreat

MANILA, Philippines — MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Tropical Storm Trami on Friday came from the northwestern Philippines, killing at least 82 people in landslides and widespread flooding, forcing authorities to call in more rescue boats to save thousands of terrified people who were trapped, some on rooftops.

But the onslaught may not be over: State forecasters have raised a rare possibility that the storm – the 11th and one of the deadliest to hit the Philippines this year – could turn around next week as it is forced out by high-pressure winds in the South China Sea.

The Philippines’ police chief said Friday that 49 people were dead, mostly from landslides triggered by Trami in Batangas province south of Manila. This brought the storm’s overall death toll to at least 82.

Eleven other Batangas villagers are missing, Col. Jacinto Malinao Jr. told The Associated Press. by telephone from the lakeside town of Talisay, where he stood next to a villager whose wife and child were buried in a deep mound of mud, boulders and trees.

Using an excavator and shovels, police searched through 10 feet of mud, rock and debris and found part of a head and foot that appeared to belong to the missing woman and child.

“He’s just devastated,” Malinao said of the villager, a fisherman whose wife and child were buried in a landslide that occurred Thursday afternoon during heavy rains as he tended to fish cages in the lake.

“He is in shock and cannot speak, we just ask him to point out where their bedroom was so we can dig into that part,” Malinao said.

The storm was last observed on Friday afternoon, winding 410 kilometers (255 miles) west of the northwestern Philippine province of Ilocos Sur, with sustained winds of up to 95 km/h (59 mph) and gusts of up to 115 km/h (78 mph). It was moving northwest at 30 km/h (19 mph) toward Vietnam, which Trami was forecast to attack from Sunday if it maintained its course.

However, the Philippine weather agency said it was possible that high-pressure winds and other weather factors in the South China Sea could force the storm to turn toward the Philippines.

President Ferdinand Marcos, sounding exasperated, asked about that prospect during an emergency meeting Friday with cabinet members and disaster response officials on the response to widespread destruction.

“What are the prognosis for this? Is it possible that it will come back?” Marcos asked.

A government forecaster told him Trami could head toward the western Philippines early next week, but it was more likely to fly away from the Philippines again without reaching land.

“It doesn’t have to make landfall for damage to occur,” Marcos said, citing continued downpours from Trami in the Philippines.

Marcos also cited news of another storm brewing in the Pacific that could threaten the country again.

“Oh God, that’s what it is. We have to deal with this,” Marcos said.

State forecaster Jofren Habaluyas told the AP that Trami’s possible return has sparked interest from government weather experts in Asia, including experts from Japan, which provides the Philippines with information to help track the storm.

The storm’s 82 deaths included 26 villagers who died in floods and landslides in hard-hit Bicol, an agricultural and tourist region southeast of Manila popular for Mayon, one of the country’s 24 most active volcanoes with almost perfect cone.

According to Malinao and the Office of Civil Defense, at least 27 people remain missing in several provinces, including 17 in Batangas.

While Trami did not develop into a typhoon, it did bring unusually heavy rains to some regions, including some that received one to two months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours, inundating communities with flash floods.

Authorities in the city of Naga, where 11 people drowned, and in the remote provinces of Camarines Sur and Albay called for more rescue boats at the height of the storm to reach people trapped on upper floors of houses or on roofs as flood waters rose.

At the foot Mayon volcano in Albay province, mud and other debris cascaded toward nearby towns as the storm hit, drenching homes and cars in black mud.

The deluge affected more than 2.6 million people, and nearly 320,000 people fled to evacuation centers or the homes of relatives, disaster relief officials said.

The government closed schools and government offices for a third day on Friday to keep millions of people safe on the main northern island of Luzon. Ferry services between the islands were also suspended, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

In Vietnam, state forecasters warned of heavy rains in the central region. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh ordered coastal provinces to remain vigilant, closely monitor Trami’s course and prepare for unforeseen circumstances.

Last month Typhoon Yagi According to a Vietnamese government report, it killed 323 people and caused extensive damage worth $3.3 billion.

Every year, about 20 storms and typhoons hit the Philippines, an archipelago in Southeast Asia, located between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. In 2013 Typhoon Haiyanone of the strongest tropical cyclones on record, left over 7,300 people dead or missing and razed entire villages to the ground.

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Dinh reported from Hanoi, Vietnam.