Cars pile up on Philippines streets after typhoon

Typhoon Kalmaegi has devastated the central Philippines, resulting in at least 114 fatalities and massive flooding that swept cars into piles on streets, with the storm now intensifying as it approaches Vietnam. The typhoon made landfall in the Philippines on Tuesday, bringing torrential rains that triggered flash floods and caused rivers to overflow. In Cebu province, the hardest-hit area, aerial footage shows cars stacked upon each other in muddy streets, highlighting the scale of the destruction. Many residents returned to find their homes destroyed and belongings lost, with rescue workers wading through waist-deep water to save trapped individuals. The death toll has risen to 114, with 127 people still missing, according to the Philippines’ disaster agency. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a state of national calamity, enabling quicker access to emergency funds and measures to prevent price gouging. The storm, known locally as Tino, is the deadliest to hit the country this year, exacerbating recovery efforts from a recent earthquake that struck the same region. Cleanup operations are underway, with communities struggling to remove debris and mud from their properties. Raffy Alejandro, a senior civil defence official, emphasized the urgency of clearing debris to account for the missing and facilitate relief operations. The typhoon’s slow movement and heavy rainfall—dumping over a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours in some areas—contributed to the severity, with most deaths due to drowning. As Kalmaegi moves over the South China Sea, it has strengthened into a Category 4 typhoon and is expected to hit central Vietnam on Thursday night. Vietnamese authorities are mobilizing thousands of soldiers to evacuate approximately 350,000 people from vulnerable areas. This comes as central Vietnam is still recovering from record floods that submerged historical sites like Hoi An and killed at least 13 people last week. Compounding the crisis, another tropical storm, Fung-wong (locally called Uwan), is developing and could intensify into a super typhoon by the weekend, threatening northern parts of the Philippines. The Philippine weather agency has warned of potential landfall in Luzon, raising concerns about further damage and displacement. Experts link the intensity of such storms to climate change, noting that warmer oceans fuel stronger typhoons and increase rainfall. The Philippines, one of Asia’s most flood-prone nations, faces challenges like inadequate drainage and corruption in flood control projects, underscoring the need for resilient infrastructure to mitigate future disasters.