RESCUERS used bulldozers to dig through mountains of mud in Biliran province to search for over 30 people missing after a powerful storm triggered landslides on the weekend, authorities said Monday.
Tropical storm “Urduja” (international name: Kai-Tak) continued to drag its way westward across the archipelago Monday after leaving at least 31 dead over the weekend from drowning and landslides, the government monitoring agency said.
Most of the dead were in the island province of Biliran, which suffered the worst of the landslides, with many homes buried.
Rescuers searching for survivors on the island were not optimistic.
“There is an assumption that the missing are already dead,” Sofronio Dacillo, a provincial disaster risk reduction and management officer, said.
The largely agricultural island of Biliran, with a population of over 140,000, also suffered massive damage to its roads, bridges and power system, which was knocked out on the weekend.
Electricity supply is not expected to be restored until Wednesday, said Dacillo.
“It was like two months of rain fell on one day in Biliran. And because of this, the soil really softened and that is also why so many bridges were destroyed,” said President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque.
Duterte, who visited the town of Naval in Biliran province following an aerial survey aboard a chopper, told government officials to start relief efforts immediately.
Urduja’s winds were not very powerful, but its slow movement across the central islands unleashed heavy rains over a long period, flooding large areas.
Many of the islands hit by Urduja also bore the brunt of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” in 2013, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing.
In a video message posted on Facebook, the island province’s governor Gerardo Espina said communities were running out of fuel and water as the storm had knocked out many vital bridges, preventing delivery of supplies.
“Of all the storms that passed Biliran … this is the one that we can call the worst,” he said.
As of Monday, Urduja—packing gusts of 90 kilometers per hour—had crossed the central Philippines and was over the western island of Palawan, heading west at 18 kilometers per hour, the government weather station said.
The government expects the storm to move away from the Philippines on Tuesday.
The storm left an estimated P327.2 million in damage to property and left 31 dead—five from Leyte, one from Eastern Samar, two from Samar and 23 from Biliran.
Of the 49 missing, two are from Romblon, three are from Leyte, 11 are from Eastern Samar, and 33 are from Biliran.
During a command conference with heads of local governments in Biliran, Duterte ordered Cabinet officials to address the immediate concerns in the rescue and relief operations.
Duterte told the Department of Trade and Industry to monitor if there are price surges, the Department of Public Works and Highways to finish the two bridges that were damaged in Naval, Biliran in under 30 days, and the Department of Transportation to secure the airports in Tacloban and Ormoc towns in Leyte, which only suffered minor damage, Roque said.
Duterte also ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government to intensify rescue operations for individuals who are still missing and asked for a list of exactly what the local government units need.
The President said he would order the Air Force to airlift more provisions after being told that food supplies in Biliran may be gone by the end of the day.
A Navy vessel will also be deployed to bring relief goods and other items to Biliran.
The National Food Authority said it would give priority in the release of rice assistance to the victims of the tropical storm.
The President criticized communist rebels, following their attacks to soldiers extending humanitarian assistance to communities.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that a total of 248,790 people in Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Western Visyas, Central Visayas and Caraga were affected by the storm.
The NDRRMC said that of the number, a total of 112,637 people were displaced or staying in evacuation centers or with their relatives or friends.
Most of the displaced population are in Eastern Samar with 49,833 people staying in evacuation centers.
Another low pressure area, 1,950 kilometers east of Mindanao, is expected to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Friday, Dec. 22 and follow a similar track as Urduja.
Once it enters the Philippine territory, it will be named as “Vinta,” the state weather agency said.