More floods in the Phillippines

Deadly floods hit Philippines

The Philippines government says 22 people have been killed and nearly 200,000 evacuated as floods and landslides hit a southern region still recovering from a deadly typhoon in December 2012.

Radio NZ,

15 January, 2014

The flooded region is still recovering from a typhoon in 2012.

Photo: AFP

Torrential rain struck the eastern side of Mindanao island at the weekend, unleashing fresh misery for survivors of Typhoon Bopha, civil defence officials said on Tuesday.

Local civil defence operations officer Franz Irag told AFP many of the victims had not managed to rebuild following the cyclone and were staying in temporary shelters when they were hit by fresh flooding.

The bad weather also forced more than 194,000 people to flee their homes, officials said. The rain had started abating on Monday and some of those who took refuge in government-run shelters were returning to their homes.

The Mindanao floods occurred amid an international rehabilitation effort for areas destroyed by Super Typhoon Haiyan in November last year.

Haiyan left at least 7986 people dead or missing across the central Philippines, according to a running government tally. Bodies are still being recovered from under the rubble.

An average of 20 typhoons and storms kill hundreds of people across the Philippines every year, but the last three years have been exceptional terms of the ferocity of some disasters.

Bopha left 1900 dead or missing on Mindanao by government count. Tropical Storm Washi also unleashed floods that killed 1080 people in December 2011.