Death toll in Philippines from Typhoon Kalmaegi rises to 140

Reuters. The death toll in the Philippines from Typhoon Kalmaegi rose to 140 with another 127 people still missing, the disaster agency said on Thursday (November 6), as the storm that devastated the country’s central regions regained strength as it headed towards Vietnam.

At Talisay City in the hardest-hit province of Cebu, houses at a riverside lay flattened and caked in mud as residents tried to salvage what was left of their homes. 

More than 200,000 people were evacuated in the Philippines ahead of Kalmaegi hitting on Tuesday (November 4). Some have returned to find their homes destroyed, while others have begun the arduous cleanup, scraping mud from their houses and streets.

The devastation from Kalmaegi (locally named Tino), the 20th storm to hit the Philippines this year, comes just over a month after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck northern Cebu, killing dozens and displacing thousands.