MANILA - A tropical storm dumped heavy rain in the Philippines for a second day on Sept 2, causing floods and landslides that have left at least four people dead, including a nine-month-old girl, officials said.
The eastern city of Naga was among the hardest hit as Tropical Storm Yagi arrived off its coast overnight, leaving two people dead, including the baby girl who drowned as flood waters rose, rescuers said.
“The floods were above head height in some areas,” Mr Joshua Tuazon from the city’s public safety office told AFP, adding that hundreds of residents had been rescued.
More than 300 people remained at evacuation camps on Sept 2, with local officials saying the flood waters in the city of 210,000 people were slow to ebb due to high tide.
Two landslides killed two people and damaged five houses in the central city of Cebu on Sept 1, the local disaster office told AFP.
In Manila, the bad weather disrupted schools, state offices and foreign exchange trading.
Government work and classes at public and private schools in Metro Manila were suspended, according to government advisories on Facebook.
Foreign exchange trading will halt from noon, the bankers’ association said.
Some 29 domestic flights by Philippine Airlines and Cebu Air flights were cancelled, according to airport authorities. Ferry services in affected areas were also suspended.
The disruptions come five days after heavy monsoon rain flooded parts of Metro Manila and other areas in the country.
In July, more than 30 people died when Typhoon Gaemi brought floods and landslides.
Provinces near the capital including Bulacan and Quezon also shut offices and schools, according to various posts on social media.
Yagi, called Enteng in the Philippines, has maximum sustained winds of 75kmh and gusts of up to 90kmh, according to local weather bureau Pagasa.
The storm may make landfall over Isabela or Cagayan province in northern Luzon in the afternoon or night of Sept 2, it said.
The weather service also warned of a “minimal to moderate risk” of giant coastal waves threatening communities as the storm hits land.
Flooding and landslides are expected, Pagasa said.
Moving west, north-westward at 15kmh, Yagi is expected to accelerate and exit the country by the evening of Sept 4 or early morning on Sept 5, Pagasa said.
The storm may then move towards southern China, according to the US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.
Later in the week, the storm has “a higher chance to move towards the vicinity of the western part of Guangdong and Hainan Island and further intensify”, the Hong Kong Observatory said.
Last week, the Philippine government also suspended classes and cancelled flights as heavy rain inundated Metro Manila and nearby areas.
About 20 cyclones pass through disaster-prone Philippines each year, damaging homes and infrastructure and killing dozens of people. BLOOMBERG, AFP
