3 Typhoons in 3 Weeks Kill 100-Plus People in Philippines, Causing Damages of $518.5M

Three strong typhoons over the past three weeks have killed more than 100 people in the Philippines and damaged farms and infrastructure worth almost 25 billion pesos ($518.5 million), based on reports from its disaster agency.

A number of provinces north of the capital Manila are still submerged in flood waters after Typhoon Vamco swept across Luzon last week, just weeks after typhoons Goni and Molave hit.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Managent Council said it has asked President Rodrigo Duterte to declare a state of calamity in the country’s largest island Luzon, home to 53 million people. The proposal — which will be in addition to an existing state of calamity over the COVID-19 pandemic — allows faster release of calamity funds, the grant of interest-free loans and freezing of prices of basic commodities.

Photograph: Floodwaters from Typhoon Vamco inundate the Cagayan valley region in the northern Philippines on Sunday Nov. 15, 2020. Typhoon Vamco swelled rivers and flooded low-lying areas as it passed over the storm-battered northeast Philippines, where rescuers were deployed early Thursday to help people flee the rising waters. Photo credit: Ace Morandante/Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP.