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(UPDATE 10 - 1:24 AM) CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines - The number of fatalities from storm "Sendong" has breached the 600 mark as more bodies were recovered from Cagayan de Oro City, reports from the Philippine Red Cross showed, and officials started preparing for mass burial as decomposed bodies kept pilling up.
Red Cross said the latest number of the dead is now at 652, which surpassed the number of fatalities of "Ondoy," which claimed 464 lives in Luzon in 2009. The devastated port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in Mindanao island accounted for most of the deaths caused by Sendong, the agency said.
According to the Red Cross, at least 808 more remain missing after Sendong struck the southern Philippines, causing flash floods and landslides and driving tens of thousands from their homes.
As of posting time, the Cagayan de Oro City Disaster Risk and Management Council said 336 are dead while 467 are missing.
"Our office was swamped with hundreds of requests to help find their missing parents, children and relatives," Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the PNRC, told reporters. "We're helping coordinate the search with local government, army, police and even other aid agencies."
Floods washed away entire houses with families inside in dozens of coastal villages in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.
Mass burial readied
Rescuers struggled to help survivors and a ravaged city prepared for a mass burial as the death toll from devastating flash floods in the southern Philippines rose past 650 on Sunday.
With hundreds more still listed as missing, tropical storm Sendong (international name: Washi) left Philippine territory after dumping heavy rains that overwhelmed rivers in the port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on Mindanao island at the weekend.
That part of the country is usually spared from the devastating typhoons that hit other parts.
Iligan, where more than 200 people were killed, was preparing to bury unclaimed bodies in a mass grave as early as Monday because of their advanced state of decomposition.
City health officer Liddy Villarin said body bags will be marked for possible exhumation.
"We will put markings on the cadaver bags which will give the physical features of each body before they put them in the mass grave," she said.
First time in city
"This is the first time this has happened in our city," Vicente Emano, mayor of Cagayan de Oro, said in a radio interview. He said officials in the area did not receive adequate warning before the typhoon struck.
The state disaster agency said adequate warnings had been given to officials and residents three days before the typhoon made landfall on Friday.
Sendong, with winds gusting up to 90 kmh (56 mph), barrelled into the resource-rich island of Mindanao late on Friday, bringing heavy rain that also grounded some domestic flights and left wide areas without power.
Emergency workers, soldiers and police were recovering more bodies - most covered in mud - washed ashore in nearby towns.
"The affected area is so wide and huge and I believe they have not really gone to all areas to do a search. Also... many of the houses were washed out so that means the houses and the bodies were displaced," Pang told AFP.
Disaster and health officials were struggling to deal with the scores of bodies that have been recovered. Some were stacked one on top of each other in under-staffed mortuaries that were unable to cope with the numbers of dead.
"I saw for myself bloated bodies of women and children, not less than 100," Vice President Jejomar Binay told Philippines radio as he toured the worst hit areas in Cagayan de Oro.
Almost 35,000 people remained huddled in evacuation centers after the storm, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.
Rescue and relief efforts were hampered by power outages in many areas including Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities as well as by damaged and destroyed bridges, the council added.
Another 21 people drowned on the central island of Negros, the PNRC said.
Another 47 fatalities were also recorded in Bukidnon. Earlier, the NDRRMC reported that five people died from a landslide that hit Compostela Valley while three others drowned in Zamboanga del Norte.
The NDRRMC said a total of 19,234 families or over 106,000 persons were affected by the storm from 11 provinces across the country. A total of 184 houses were also damaged.
National Police chief Nicanor Bartolome has ordered the deployment of 200 cops to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan to aid in search operations and relief distribution.
Bartolome said one company each from Region 11 and Caraga were sent to these two cities to augment forces in the area.
Bartolome assured the public that law enforcement operations in other parts of Mindanao will not be hampered by the deployment of more cops to disaster response.
431 rescued
Meanwhile, the NDRRMC reported that authorities were able to rescue 431 persons from the floods, including 30 crew members of a cargo ship that capsized off Dumaguete City in Negros and 250 residents in Cagayan de Oro.
Hundreds were also unaccounted for, most of them from a coastal village in Iligan. Houses were swept into the sea by floodwaters while people were sleeping inside late on Friday.
The Philippines social welfare department said about 100,000 people were displaced and brought to nearly three dozen shelters in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.
President Aquino met with cabinet members and disaster officials to assess conditions on the main southern island and ordered a review of disaster plans to avoid a repeat of the tragedy. He is due to inspect typhoon-hit areas after Christmas.
"These areas will be at risk every year... The first (step in) mitigation has to be relocation from these areas," he said in a meeting with senior civil defence officials.
Rescue boats pulled at least 15 people from the sea, said another army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang.
Surprise
Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said many people were caught by surprise when water rose one metre (three feet) high in less than an hour, forcing people onto roofs. "Most of them were already sleeping when floodwaters entered their homes. This is the worst flooding our city has experienced in years."
The national disaster agency said it could not estimate crop and property damage because emergency workers, including soldiers and police officers, were evacuating families and recovering casualties.
Benito Ramos, head of the NDRRMC told reporters Mindanao residents were warned about the dangers posed by the storm days earlier but elected not to move to safer areas.
He said Mindanao was rarely visited by storms, even as 20 major storms strike the Philippines annually, with most hitting Luzon, the largest and most populous island in the Southeast Asian archipelago.
"We expect huge damage, especially on agriculture," Ramos said.
Two of the three rivers that flow into the port of Iligan had overflowed, he added, and a popular radio commentator was among those killed.
Other affected areas on Mindanao included Bukidnon province, where 47 people died, while nine others people were killed elsewhere on the island, Pang of the Red Cross said.
State of Calamity
Twenty-five people meanwhile drowned on the island of Negros, the provincial civil defense office told AFP.
"What happened was beyond the expectation of the public," said the civil defense official, Minda Morante.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Sunday Dumaguete City and the municipality of Valencia in Negros Oriental have been declared under a state of calamity.
The NDRRMC reported that in the province of Negros Oriental alone, a total of 4,755 families or 23,775 persons were affected due to the storm. Majority of these were from Dumaguete City.
The storm caused the Amlan River to overflow, closing down the Amlan Bridge. Some roadways connecting to the national highway were also closed due to knee-deep floods in Tanjay, San Jose also in Negros Oriental. The Okoy River overflowed and affected low-lying areas Sibulan and other towns, the NDRRMC said.
A steel bridge at Brgy. Palimpinon, Valencia connecting Balugo to Valencia was destroyed and Tanjay Bridge along the national highway was damaged and closed to vehicles.
The NDRRMC reported that a cargo ship “Ever Transport Cargo” anchored at Brgy. Calindagan, Dumaguete City sank due to strong winds and big waves. The cargo ship is owned by Kherl Lines loaded with Asia Brewery products.
More than 4,000 people in flooded areas were moved to evacuation centres, the disaster agency in Manila said.
