Philippines Landslide Death Toll Hits 148; Hundreds Still Missing From ‘Agaton’

Nearly 150 people in the Philippines have died and hundreds more are missing and feared dead in the wake of a tropical storm that landed in the country last weekend, according to reports.

Landslides and flooding triggered by tropical storm Megi, known locally as Agaton, have resulted in 148 deaths as of Thursday, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported, citing official figures.

A total of 101 people were killed and dozens more were injured last weekend in vegetable-, rice- and coconut-growing villages around Baybay, a city located in the eastern province of Leyte. Another 103 people remain missing.

Another 42 people died in landslides that hit three villages in Leyte's Abuyog municipality, police said, while another person drowned. More than 100 people in the area were still missing.

Three people also drowned on the Philippines' main southern island of Mindanao, and one more died in the central province of Iloilo, the country's national disaster agency, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), was cited as saying.

Most of the deaths in Abuyog were from the coastal village of Pilar, with at least 28 bodies brought by boat to a sandy lot near the municipal government building after roads leading to the settlement were cut off by landslides.

Many of those who died in the area had hiked to higher ground to avoid flash floods, villagers said.

There was little hope of finding anyone else alive, Abuyog Mayor Lemuel Traya said.

Bad weather and thick mud complicated retrieval efforts in Pilar, where the ground was unstable.

"This will not end soon. It could go on for days," Traya warned.

Megi made its first landfall in the province of Eastern Samar Sunday morning before making its second landfall in neighboring Samar on Monday afternoon as a tropical depression.

The storm struck at the beginning of Holy Week, one of the most important holidays in the Philippines, which sees thousands travel to visit relatives.

It came four months after Typhoon Rai, known in the country as super typhoon Odette, left 400 dead and thousands homeless.

Megi's agricultural damages have amounted to at least 136 million Philippine pesos ($2.6 million), the NDRRMC said Thursday, according to the Manila Times.

The Western Visayas and Eastern Visayas regions as well as parts of Mindanao suffered about 134,991,740 Philippine pesos' ($2,576,915) worth of damages. Meanwhile, the damages to Central Visayas' and Northern Mindanao's infrastructure amounted to 1.5 million Philippine pesos ($27,700), the NDRRMC claimed.