CENTRAL PROVINCE HIT HARDEST
Provincial officials said Kalmaegi set off flash floods and caused a river and other waterways to swell. The resulting flooding engulfed residential communities, forcing residents to climb on their roofs, where they desperately pleaded to be rescued as the floodwaters rose, officials said.
At least 71 people died in Cebu, mostly due to drownings, 65 others were reported missing and 69 were injured, the Office of Civil Defense said.
It added that 62 others were reported missing in the central province of Negros Occidental, which is located near Cebu.
“We did everything we can for the typhoon but, you know, there are really some unexpected things like flash floods,” Cebu governor Pamela Baricuatro told The Associated Press by telephone.
Caloy Ramirez, a volunteer rescuer, said the massive flooding set off by the typhoon turned an upscale riverside residential community in Cebu city on Tuesday into an unrecognisable scene of tumbled SUVs and houses in disarray.
Residents said floodwater engulfed the first floors of their houses in just a few minutes, sending them scrambling to upper floors or roofs in panic.
“We always expect the worst and what I saw yesterday was the worst,” Ramirez told The AP. He described how the faces of desperate residents would light up when they realised they were being rescued.
Source: CNA
