Philippines hit by storm, quake; 22 dead, 22,000 flee

Filipino residents wade along a street at a flooded community in the town of Bulan, Sorsogon province, Philippines on Sunday. (EPA photo)

MANILA: Tropical Storm Usman, which entered the Philippines on Christmas Day, has killed at least 22 people as it churned across several provinces, triggering floods and landslides and forcing thousands to flee to safer ground.

The storm has displaced at least 17,000 people in the Bicol region in the southern part of the Philippines’ main Luzon island. Three died in Albay province due to a landslide, while seven more were killed in Masbate, most of them drowning, the region’s civil defence office said in a statement. Six more deaths were reported from Sorsogon and Camarines Sur provinces.

"Most of the (affected) areas are underwater. We are sending troops and rubber boats to rescue families. In some areas the floods have reached the roofs of homes," Claudio Yucot, head of the Bicol region's office of civil defence, told AFP.

More than 6,600 people are stranded in various ports, while Cebu Air Inc. and Philippine Airlines Inc. cancelled more than a dozen flights from Dec 27 to 29.

Many of the deaths were due to landslides and drowning, it added, saying floods had yet to recede even as the weather disturbance known locally as "Usman" weakened into a low pressure area.

"Most of the (affected) areas are underwater. We are sending troops and rubber boats to rescue families. In some areas the floods have reached the roofs of homes," Claudio Yucot, head of the Bicol region's office of civil defence, told AFP.

At least 16 people died in Bicol while six others were killed in Eastern Visayas, civil defence officials said.

More than 22,000 people fled their homes ahead of the storm, which destroyed rice and corn crops and left some roads and bridges inaccessible, according to regional disaster officials.

Government forecasters said Sunday that heavy rain would continue over the next 24 hours in the northern Philippines.

Usman hit Philippine waters on Dec 25 and gathered strength as it moved slowly before making landfall in the central province of Eastern Samar. While the storm has been downgraded to a low-pressure system, monsoon rain may still trigger floods and landslides, the weather bureau said. About 20 cyclones pass through disaster-prone Philippines each year.

A destroyed house is seen after a tropical depression descended upon Daet, Camarines Norte, the Philippines, on Sunday in this still image taken from a video obtained from social media. (Reuters video)

A powerful undersea earthquake struck off the southern Philippines on Saturday, prompting people to scramble out of shopping malls and buildings and authorities to warn villagers to stay away from beaches in case of a tsunami.

No casualties or damage were reported hours after the quake struck before noon, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its warning for a potential tsunami that it had said could hit coastal areas of the southern Philippines and Indonesia.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake was detected at a depth of 59 kilometres and a magnitude of 7.2 about 162km off Davao Oriental province. Several aftershocks, including one with a magnitude of 5.6, were later felt by residents but no major damage was reported, officials said.

The US Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6.9.

Shortly after the quake struck, Renato Solidum, who heads the quake-monitoring institute, said a major tsunami was unlikely given the quake's depth but his agency advised villagers to avoid beaches in Davao Oriental province and outlying coastal regions for about two hours after the quake hit around noon as a precaution.

The quake was felt in several southern provinces and cities, including in President Rodrigo Duterte's hometown in Davao city and in nearby Tagum City. Shoppers, including children yelling in fear, rushed out of a five-story mall and many occupants abandoned a 26-floor condominium in a commercial district as the ground shook.

Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the quake didn't have the potential to cause a tsunami affecting that country, which is still reeling after a Dec 22 tsunami caused by an eruption on a volcanic island killed more than 400 people.

The Philippines and Indonesia lie along the so-called Ring of Fire, a seismically active arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.