Tropical Storm Penha brings devastation to Philippines with 4 dead and 6,000 evacuated

Tropical Storm Penha killed at least four people and displaced more than 6,000 across the southern Philippines as days of heavy rainfall triggered flooding and a landslide, authorities said on Friday.

The storm, known locally as Basyang, made landfall late on Thursday in the southeastern province of Surigao del Sur, before moving westwards across the central islands.

As of Friday noon, Penha was last tracked off Bohol province with sustained winds of up to 55kmph and gusts of up to 70kmph, forecasters said.

A couple and their two children were killed on Thursday night when their shanty was buried by a landslide in a quarry area in southern Cagayan de Oro city.

The landslide was triggered by torrential rainfall brought by the storm.

In Iligan city, around 55km southwest of Cagayan de Oro, residents were trapped inside flooded homes as waters rose rapidly.

One woman called the DZMM radio network on Friday, pleading to be rescued from the house’s second floor as floodwaters surrounded her family.

“Rescuers are on the way,” Antonio Sugarol, regional director of the Office of Civil Defence, told the resident during the broadcast, adding that rescue personnel were evacuating families in Mahayahay and Tubod villages, according to Associated Press.

More than 6,000 people were displaced in southern and central provinces, including around 5,800 who were moved to evacuation centres, the Office of Civil Defense said. Classes were suspended in several affected areas as flooding inundated villages and roads.

The storm also caused widespread transport disruptions. Nearly 5,000 passengers and cargo workers were stranded in 94 seaports after authorities temporarily suspended inter-island ferry and cargo services due to rough seas, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

Dozens of domestic flights were cancelled as well, leaving thousands of travellers stranded at airports.

Penha has a rain and wind band stretching around 660km, unusually wide for a storm forming ahead of the summer season, when the Philippines typically experiences fewer tropical systems.

Government forecaster Robert Badrina said the storm developed outside the country’s usual peak typhoon months.

Weather officials say Penha is expected to weaken into a tropical depression later on Friday as it moves northwest across the central islands towards Palawan province, although heavy rain may continue to pose flood risks.

The Philippines is hit by around 20 typhoons and tropical storms each year and is among the world’s most disaster-prone countries, also lying along earthquake fault lines and home to more than a dozen active volcanoes.