Landslides, floods kill nine in Philippines
By DPA, IANSMonday, January 3, 2011
MANILA - A series of landslides and floods killed at least nine people and displaced thousands in the eastern and southern Philippines, the Office of Civil Defence said Monday.
Three children were killed in a landslide in St Bernard town in Southern Leyte province, 675 km southeast of Manila.
More than 1,000 residents were also displaced by floods in the town, where a massive landslide in 2006 had buried the village of Guinsaugon, killing more than 1,000 people.
Heavy rains have plagued eastern and southern provinces since the last week of December due to a cold front, according to the weather bureau.
A landslide also closed a highway in Tacloban City in nearby Leyte province, while floods struck the provinces of Eastern Samar, Western Samar and Northern Samar, the Office of Civil Defence said.
In Albay province, three people drowned in floods that displaced nearly 60,000 people. Landslides also forced more than 5,000 to flee their homes in 18 villages.
An elderly woman was buried in a mudslide while two children drowned when they were swept away by a swollen river in Monkayo town in Compostella Valley, 930 km south of Manila, police said.
Floods were also reported in the southern provinces of Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Sur, where nearly 900 people were forced to flee their homes.
