Typhoon Washi in Philippines - Friday Night Dec 16,2011

Torrents of water and mud cascaded through riverside villages on Friday Dec 16,2011 night, obliterating whole communities and sweeping hundreds out to sea. The Philippine National Red Cross put the toll at 652 killed and more than 800 missing.The national disaster agency said 684 died after Typhoon Washi slammed ashore in while residents slept.
Cagayan de Oro and nearby Iligan cities on Mindanao island were worst hit.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.Brigadier General Roland Amarille, head of an army task force in Iligan, said soldiers had been mobilized to recover bodies and build coffins.
Most of the fatalities were from a slum area on an island sandwiched by two rivers in Iligan. "About 70 percent of the houses on the island were washed into the sea,"

 lorries lie overturned in mud in the Cagayan de Oro area

people in Iligan, tried to wade through the water to return to their homes. 

Basketball Court turned into an evacuation centre in Cagayan De Oro City

 

 

 

Govt Declares State Of Calamity As Death Toll Nears 1,000 

                                                               

The official death toll from last week's massive flash flooding in two southern Philippine cities topped 1,000 on Wednesday Dec 21,2011 as authorities said they lost count of how many more were missing in one of the worst calamities to hit the coastal region.The latest tally showed a total of 1,002 have been confirmed dead, including 650 in Cagayan de Oro and an additional 283 in nearby Iligan city, said Benito Ramos, head of the Civil Defense Office. The rest came from several other southern and central provinces.
The government continues to be focused on retrieving the bodies, most of which are being pulled from the sea off Cagayan de Oro .
About 45,000 displaced were still crowded in evacuation centers as aid workers rushed in relief supplies.