Philippines: 47 dead, dozens feared missing as torrential rains trigger flash floods

Flash floods and landslides set off by torrential rains left at least 47 people dead, including in a hard-hit southern Philippine province, where as many as 60 villagers are feared missing and buried in a deluge of rainwater, mud, rocks and trees, officials said Saturday.

At least 42 people were swept away by rampaging floodwaters and drowned or were hit by debris-filled mudslides in three towns in Maguindanao province from Thursday night to early Friday, said Naguib Sinarimbo, the interior minister for a five-province Muslim autonomous region run by former separatist guerrillas.

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Five other people died elsewhere from the onslaught of Tropical Storm Nalgae, which slammed into the eastern province of Camarines Sur early Saturday, the government's disaster-response agency said.

But the worst storm impact so far was a mudslide laden with rainwater, rocks and trees that buried dozens of houses with as many as 60 people in the tribal village of Kusiong in Maguindanao's Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Sinarimbo told The Associated Press by telephone, citing accounts from Kusiong villagers, who survived the flash flood and mudslide.

Eleven bodies, mostly of children, were dug up Friday by rescuers using spades in Kusiong, he said.

“That community will be our ground zero today,” Sinarimbo said, adding that heavy equipment and more rescue workers including army, police and volunteers have been deployed to intensify the search and rescue work.

The coastal village, which lies at the foot of a mountain, is accessible by road, allowing more rescuers to be deployed Saturday to deal with one of the worst weather-related disasters to hit the country's south in decades, he said.