Rescuers used bulldozers to dig through mountains of mud in the eastern Philippines to search for over 30 people missing after a powerful storm triggered landslides on the weekend, authorities said Monday.
Tropical Storm “Urduha” (international name: “Kai-Tak”) continued to drag its way westward across the archipelago nation Monday after leaving at least 28 dead over the weekend from drowning and landslides, the government monitoring agency said.
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 60 kilometers per hour (kph) – 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.