MANILA, Philippines — The death toll from Typhoon Bopha climbed to more than 100 people today, and scores of others remain missing in the worst-hit areas of the southern Philippines.
At least 43 people died when torrents of water rampaged down a mountain in New Bataan town in Compostela Valley province and overran a school and village hall where people were taking shelter from the storm. Nine soldiers and an unspecified number of villagers were missing, army Maj. Gen. Ariel Bernardo said.
Six villagers drowned in floods in Montevista town, Compostela Valley provincial spokesman Fe Maestre said.
In nearby Davao Oriental province, 51 people died, mostly in floods, while two men perished when fierce wind ripped their boat from its mooring and it sank on central Siquijor island, according to disaster-response officials.
Bopha, one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country this year, struck Davao Oriental at dawn Tuesday then barreled across southern and central provinces, triggering landslides, flooding and cutting off power in two entire provinces. It was roaring toward western Palawan province today and was expectedto blow out toward the South China Sea the next day.
Gov. Arturo Uy said rain from Bopha accumulated atop a mountain and then burst down on Andap village in New Bataan. The victims included villagers who had fled from their homes to the school and village hall, which were then swamped by the flash flood.
An army truck carrying soldiers and villagers was washed away, according to Uy and army officials.
“They thought that they were already secure in a safe area, but they didn’t know the torrents of water would go their way,” Uy told DZBB radio.
He said the confirmed death toll in the town was likely to rise because several other bodies could not immediately be retrieved from floodwaters strewn with huge logs and debris.
Two entire provinces lost power and more than 100 domestic flights were canceled. About 60,000 people fled to emergency shelters.
Other deaths included three children who were buried by a wall of mud and boulders that plunged down a mountain in Marapat village, also in Compostela Valley.
Their bodies were wrapped in blankets by their grieving relatives and placed on a stage in a basketball court.
“The only thing we could do was to save ourselves. It was too late for us to rescue them,” said Valentin Pabilana, who survived the landslide.
In Davao Oriental, a poor agricultural and gold-mining province about 620 milessoutheast of Manila, an elderly woman was killed when her house was struck by a falling tree, said Benito Ramos, who heads the government’s disaster-response agency.
The other victims either drowned or were hit by trees, he said, adding that the death toll was expected to rise.
While some 20 typhoons and storms normally lash the archipelago nation annually, the southern provinces battered by Bopha are unaccustomed to fierce typhoons, which normally hit the northern and central Philippines.
A rare storm last December killed more than 1,200 people and left many more homeless and traumatized, including in Cagayan de Oro city, where church bells pealed relentlessly Tuesday to warn residents to scramble to safety as a major river started to swell.
Officials were taking no chances this year, and President Benigno Aquino III appealed on national TV on Monday for people in Bopha’s path to move to safety and take storm warnings seriously.
In Compostela Valley, authorities halted mining operations and ordered villagers to evacuate to prevent a repeat of deadly losses from landslides and the collapse of mine tunnels in previous storms.
Bopha, a Cambodian word for flower or a girl, is the 16th weather disturbance to hit the Philippines this year. Forecasters say at least one more storm may strike the country before Christmas.
Information for this article was contributed by Teresa Cerojano of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 12/05/2012