Philippine president declares state of emergency after Typhoon Kalmaegi death toll tops 140
Most of the deaths were reported in the central province of Cebu, which was pummelled by Kalmaegi on Tuesday, setting off flash floods and causing a river and other waterways to overflow.
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CEBU: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of emergency on Thursday (Nov 6) after Typhoon Kalmaegi killed at least 140 people, with 127 missing in the central provinces.
It is the deadliest natural disaster to hit the country this year.
It is also the globe's deadliest so far in 2025, according to the disaster database EM-DAT. Typhoon Trami, also in the Philippines, was last year's third deadliest typhoon with 191 fatalities.
The Philippines' national civil defence office confirmed 114 reported deaths, though that tally did not include an additional 28 recorded by Cebu provincial authorities.
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Most of the deaths were reported in the central province of Cebu, which was pummelled by Kalmaegi on Tuesday, setting off flash floods and causing a river and other waterways to overflow, said Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense.
Kalmaegi moved away from western Palawan province into the South China Sea before noon Wednesday and was barreling toward Vietnam, according to forecasters.
Among the dead were six people who were killed when a Philippine air force helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday. The crew was on its way to provide humanitarian help to provinces battered by Kalmaegi, the military said. It did not give the cause of the crash.
The president's declaration of a "state of national calamity" authorises the government to release funding for aid and impose price ceilings on basic necessities.
CENTRAL PROVINCE HIT HARDEST
Provincial officials said Kalmaegi set off flash floods and caused a river and other waterways to swell. The resulting flooding engulfed residential communities, forcing residents to climb on their roofs, where they desperately pleaded to be rescued as the floodwaters rose, officials said.
At least 71 people died in Cebu, mostly due to drownings, 65 others were reported missing and 69 were injured, the Office of Civil Defense said.
It added that 62 others were reported missing in the central province of Negros Occidental, which is located near Cebu.
State weather service meteorologist Benison Estareja told AFP the rains along Kalmaegi's path were 1.5 times the amount that would typically fall in Cebu for a full November, saying it was something that happened "once every 20 years".
The "highly urbanised" nature of the most-affected communities around Cebu City had made it even deadlier, he added.
On Wednesday, residents busily cleaning up streets that had been rivers less than 24 hours earlier told AFP they could remember nothing like it.
"Around four or five in the morning, the water was so strong that you couldn't even step outside," said Reynaldo Vergara, 53, adding that everything in his small shop in Mandaue had been lost when a nearby river overflowed.
"Nothing like this has ever happened. The water was raging."
In a radio interview, provincial governor Pamela Baricuatro called the situation "unprecedented".
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change. Warmer oceans allow typhoons to strengthen rapidly, and a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, meaning heavier rainfall.
CONCERNS OVER FLOOD CONTROL PROJECTS
The problems may have been made worse by years of quarrying that caused clogging of nearby rivers, which overflowed, and substandard flood control projects in Cebu province, Baricuatro said.
A corruption scandal involving substandard or non-existent flood control projects across the Philippines has sparked public outrage and street protests in recent months.
Cebu, a bustling province of more than 2.4 million people, declared a state of calamity to allow authorities to disburse emergency funds more rapidly.
Cebu was still recovering from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on Sep 30 that left at least 79 people dead and displaced thousands when houses collapsed or were severely damaged.
Thousands of northern Cebu residents who were displaced by the earthquake were moved to sturdier evacuation shelters from flimsy tents before the typhoon struck, Baricuatro said. Northern towns devastated by the earthquake were mostly not hit by floods generated by Kalmaegi, she added.
Before Kalmaegi’s landfall, officials said more than 387,000 people had evacuated to safer ground in eastern and central Philippine provinces.
Ferries and fishing boats were prohibited from venturing out to increasingly rough seas, stranding more than 3,500 passengers and cargo truck drivers in nearly 100 seaports, the coast guard said. At least 186 domestic flights were cancelled.
"URGENT AND DANGEROUS"
Kalmaegi was gathering strength on Thursday as it headed towards neighbouring Vietnam, where fear was mounting that the typhoon could compound the damage of a week of flooding that has already claimed 47 lives.
The typhoon is forecast to make landfall in central Vietnam late pn Thursday, bringing waves as high as 8m and powerful storm surges, according to the national weather bureau.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha urged local authorities to treat Kalmaegi as "urgent and dangerous", calling it "a very abnormal" storm in a statement on Wednesday.
Authorities have ordered thousands to evacuate from coastal communities, and in Quy Nhon city - just south of where Kalmaegi is forecast to make landfall - an AFP reporter saw officials knocking on doors Thursday, warning people to flee.
Ten typhoons or tropical storms usually affect Vietnam, directly or offshore, in a given year, but Typhoon Kalmaegi is set to be the 13th of 2025.
The Philippines has already reached its average of 20 such storms a year with Kalmaegi, weather specialist Varilla told AFP, adding at least "three to five more" storms could be expected by December's end.
Storm number 21 is already on its way, according to the state weather service.
More than 1,500km to the country's east, tropical storm Fung-wong is slowly building strength as it heads towards the Philippines' main island of Luzon.
It could reach super typhoon status before it makes landfall on Monday.
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