MANILA – Torrential rains from a tropical storm approaching the eastern Philippines inundated cities and towns on Wednesday, leaving at least nine dead, with widespread flooding trapping people, some on their rooftops, and prompting frantic calls for rescue, officials said. .
The government closed schools and public offices, except those necessary to handle the disaster response across the main island of Luzon, to protect millions of people, as Tropical Storm Trami approached from the Pacific.
At least nine people died and seven were reported missing before the storm made landfall on the northwest coast, authorities said.
The storm was about 175 kilometers (109 miles) east of the town of Echague, in Isabela province, with maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour (59 miles per hour) and gusts of 71 km/h (71 mph). . Its wide band of rain could leave up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) of water on a day of heavy rainfall in the most vulnerable provinces in its path, according to state meteorologists.
The storm was expected to hit the Isabela coast between Wednesday night and early Thursday, before hitting the Luzon mountain range, valleys and plains and exiting the South China Sea later this week, they said.
Thousands of residents evacuated to emergency shelters in provinces in the northeast and storm warnings were activated in more than two dozen northern and central provinces, including the populous capital, Manila, which was not in Trami’s direct path but could be affected. for its downpours.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. canceled all his appointments on Wednesday and called an emergency meeting to discuss disaster mitigation efforts, Communications Secretary Cesar Chavez said.
“The worst is yet to come, I’m afraid, so let’s all prepare,” Marcos said.
During the meeting, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said armed forces planes and ships would be used for evacuations and disaster response. He added that friendly countries, including Singapore, could provide additional power for air transport, if necessary.
“People have spent several hours trapped on the roofs of their homes,” former Vice President Leni Robredo, who lives in the northeastern city of Naga, said in a Facebook post Wednesday morning. “Many of our rescue trucks have stopped due to flooding.”
