Deadly storm hits Philippines

Flash floods and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Jangmi leave at least 31 people dead and seven missing.

Source: aljazeera.com

Flash floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Jangmi have left at least 31 people dead and seven missing in the Philippines, including in areas still recovering from last year’s Typhoon Haiyan, officials have said.

Jangmi, packing winds of 65 kilometres per hour and gusts of 80 kph, had dumped heavy rains on southern Mindanao Island.

Floods destroyed bridges and highways, sending thousands of residents to evacuation centres.

The storm then pushed its way through eastern and central islands, where most of the deaths occurred on Tuesday.

The government weather bureau said that as of late Tuesday afternoon, the eye of the storm was 140 kilometres southwest of central Iloilo City, moving west at 19kph towards western Palawan Island.

Record Number Evacuated in Malaysia’s Worst Floods

(Reuters) – More than 100,000 people have been evacuated from their homes by authorities in five northern states of Malaysia hit by the Southeast Asian’ nation’s worst monsoon floods in decades.

Extremely high levels of floodwater and bad weather have made relocating victims and the transport of food supplies by helicopters difficult, Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement.

A total of 103,412 people have been displaced in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak and Perlis, state news agency Bernama said, surpassing the previous record of 100,000 people evacuated during floods in 2008.

Northeastern peninsular Malaysia, which is worst affected, is regularly hit by flooding during the annual Northeast Monsoon, but this year’s rains have been particularly bad.

On Tuesday, nearly 60 foreign tourists were among almost 100 people rescued by boat and helicopter from a resort in a Malaysian national park lashed by its highest rainfall since 1971.

The flooding comes as communities in northwestern Malaysia mark the 10^thanniversary of the devastating tsunami that hit on Dec. 26, 2004.

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