31 people have been killed by landslides and flooding as a result of the heavy rain brought by an approaching storm in the southern Philippines, as stated by a disaster official on Friday.
The storm unleashed flash floods carrying uprooted trees, rocks and mud overnight in mainly rural communities around Cotabato, a city of 300,000 people on Mindanao island.
“Some residents were caught by surprise by the rapidly rising floodwaters,” Naguib Sinarimbo, the spokesman and civil defence chief for the regional government, told AFP.
