Nearly 200 people have been confirmed killed and scores of others went missing after tropical storm "Sendong" battered provinces in Mindanao with strong winds and heavy rains, officials said today.
The Philippine Army's 4th Infantry Battalion, which was leading the search and rescue operations in Cagayan de Oro City, said that they have recovered a total of 117 bodies as of 4 p.m.
Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan city said 79 bodies were recovered in the city after more than 12 hours of continuous rain swelled a river and sent muddy floodwaters cascading down from nearby mountains.
Cruz said that they never expected the disaster since Iligan City was only under public storm warning signal number one. He said heavy raining started around 10 p.m. on Friday, and the floods came while people were sleeping.
"This is the worst. We've never seen flooding like this ever since the existence of our city," the mayor said.
Cruz said about 150 people were missing in the city after the storm swept through their area and other provinces in Mindanao.
Benito Ramos of the The National Disaster Risk Reductin and Management Council said in a report to President Benigno Aquino III this afternoon that at least 260 people have been reported missing.
Ramos said that he received a report that a village in Iligan City was completely swept by floodwaters.
Disaster officers said three people drowned in Zamboanga del Norte province, west of the two cities.
Teddy Sabuga-a, a disaster officer in Misamis Oriental province, said 60 people were rescued in waters off El Salvador city, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) northwest of Cagayan de Oro, after they were swept to the sea by a raging river, and about 120 more were rescued off Opol township, closer to the city.
He said an island in the middle of the Cagayan de Oro river was inundated, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or people missing.
Cruz said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river.
The floodwaters were waist-high in some neighborhoods that do not usually experience flooding. Scores of residents escaped the floods by climbing onto the roofs of their homes, Cruz said.
Those missing included prominent radio broadcaster Enie Alsonado, who was swept away while trying to save his neighbors, Cruz said.
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