The Philippines has now recorded 72 deaths as a result of Tropical Storm Nalgae, which brought flash floods and landslides to southern provinces, the country’s disaster agency said.
The tropical storm, which has maximum sustained winds of 95 km (59 mph) and gusts of up to 160 km/h (99.4 mph), made landfall in the eastern province of Catanduanes early Saturday.
Maguindanao province was worst hit, with 67 deaths reported so far, disaster agency spokesman Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro told radio station DZMM.
Two people were also killed in Sultan Kudarat, two more in South Cotabato and other victims were spread across the Visayas region of the central Philippines, he said.
Another 33 were injured and 14 people were missing, he added.
Typhoon Nalgae will bring heavy and sometimes torrential rains over the capital Manila and nearby provinces on Saturday as it crosses the main island of Luzon and heads into the South China Sea, the state weather agency said in its latest bulletin.
Barnaby Lo, a reporter for Al Jazeera from Manila, said on Saturday that the capital had experienced about 10 hours of continuous rain and the rainfall was expected to continue until Sunday.
“These rains triggered mudslides, landslides and flash floods. Now specifically, in one village in the province of Maguindanao, 67 people died in a flash flood, at least 67 people. That’s just in one village,” he said.