Tropical storm adds to Philippines' weather toll with 25 dead, 278,000 evacuated this week
It was weakening as it advanced northeastward and had sustained winds of 85 kph (53 mph) Friday afternoon. Co-may was intensifying seasonal monsoon rains that had swamped a large swath of the country for more than a week. Disaster-response officials have received reports of at least 25 deaths since last weekend, mostly due to flash floods, toppled trees, landslides and electrocution. Eight other people were reported missing, they said.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries directly caused by Co-may, locally called Emong, the fifth weather disturbance to hit the Philippines since the rainy season started in last month. More than a dozen more tropical storms were expected to batter the Southeast Asian country the rest of the year, forecasters said.
The government shut down schools in metropolitan Manila for the third day Friday and suspended classes in 35 provinces in the main northern region of Luzon. More than 80 towns and cities, mostly in Luzon, have declared a state of calamity, a designation that speeds emergency funds and freezes the prices of commodities, including rice.
The days of stormy weather have forced 278,000 people to leave their homes for safety in emergency shelters or relatives' homes. Nearly 3,000 houses have been damaged, the government's disaster response agency said. Travel by sea and air has been restricted in northern provinces being pounded or in the typhoon's path.
Thousands of army forces, police, coast guard personnel. firefighters and civilian volunteers have been deployed to help rescue people in villages swamped in floodwaters or isolated due to roads blocked by landslides, fallen trees and boulders. The United States said it will provide $250,000 in funding to the U.N. World Food Programme to help the Philippine government's response. "We are tracking the devastation caused by the storms and floods and are deeply concerned for all those affected,' US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson said.
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