Philippines: Tropical Storm Kristine kills 46, could return

The death toll in the Philippines from Tropical Storm Kristine rose to 46 on Friday with another 20 people missing as officials warned the weather pattern could loop back and lash the country with heavy rain and winds again next week. 

Nearly 240,000 people were sheltering in evacuation centres, with 7,510 passengers stuck in ports and 36 flights cancelled on Friday, the government said, as the president directed assistance to be sent to the worst-affected areas.

The civil defence agency said the reported deaths and injuries were because of landslides, floods, and other storm-related incidents, mostly in the central Bicol region which was inundated by torrential rains.

"I make this pledge to our people: Help is on the way. It will come by land, air, and, even by sea," President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on social media platform X.

The centre of slow-moving Tropical Storm Kristine, hit Luzon island on Thursday with winds of nearly 100 kph (60 mph), and some local officials reported two months worth of rain falling in a day.

The storm was moving over the South China Sea on Friday, heading towards Vietnam, but the weather agency warned that Kristine could loop back and linger just off the coast next week because of two nearby weather patterns.

Marcos held a situational briefing before conducting an aerial inspection of flooded communities. Government work and school classes on Luzon, which includes the capital Manila, were suspended for a third day.

In Talisay town in Batangas province, two hours drive south of the capital, residents were starting to clean up. Some homes and cars are buried in waist-high soil and hardened mud, and debris is strewn over the streets.

"The rain was intense so no one was able to prepare and many died," Romeo Albellar, 55, a caretaker of fish breeding pens, told Reuters.

"My house was completely destroyed and no items were saved. We are back to zero."

In Batangas province, at least nine people died because of landslides triggered by heavy rains, police and the local government said.

In the central Bicol region, police director Andre Dizon told reporters said the causes of death of 27 people during the storm was being verified. The Philippines typically records an average of 20 tropical storms annually, often resulting in heavy rains, strong winds, and deadly landslides.