At least 208 people have been killed in the devastation caused by Typhoon Rai, the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines this year.
More than 300,000 people were forced to flee their homes by the storm, which barrelled into the country on Thursday with wind speeds of 195km/h (120mph). The typhoon smashed through the southern and central regions of the Philippines, destroying homes and infrastructure and causing flooding that has affected millions.
The death toll surged on Monday to 208, the national police said, making Rai one of the deadliest storms to hit the country in recent years. At least 239 people were injured and 52 missing.
Arthur Yap, the governor of Bohol, an island province in the central Visayas region, on Sunday confirmed at least 74 fatalities. Communication cuts had prevented officials from sharing information.
In a message posted on Facebook, Yap said: “It is very clear that the damage sustained by Bohol is great and all-encompassing”. He warned of shortages of food and drinking water, and appealed for hundreds of generators.
Floodwaters rose rapidly in Bohol’s riverside town of Loboc, where residents were trapped on their roofs and trees. They were rescued by the coast guard the following day.
The government said about 780,000 people were affected, including more than 300,000 residents who had to evacuate their homes.
At least 39 other typhoon deaths were reported by the disaster-response agency and the national police. Officials on Dinagat Islands, one of the southeastern provinces first pounded by the typhoon, separately reported 10 deaths just from a few towns, bringing the overall fatalities so far to 112.
President Rodrigo Duterte flew to the region Saturday and promised 2bn pesos ($40m) in new aid. Aides said the president will visit Bohol on Sunday.
Thousands of military, police, coast guard and fire personnel are being deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts in the worst-affected areas of the vast archipelago.
Heavy machinery – like backhoes and front-end loaders – are also being sent to help clear roads blocked by fallen power poles and trees.
Charities and emergency services have appealed for donations.
About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago is located in the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.The Philippines – ranked among the globe’s most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change – is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year, which typically wipe out harvests, homes and infrastructure in already impoverished area
Many of the dead were reported to have been killed by falling trees and collapsed walls, drowned in flash floods or buried in landslides.
Officials on Dinagat Islands, one of the south-eastern provinces first hit by the typhoon, separately reported 10 deaths from a few towns, according to Associated Press.
The Dinagat governor, Arlene Bag-ao, said damage to the island’s landscape was “reminiscent if not worse” than that caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan, the deadliest cyclone on record in the Philippines. It hit the country in November 2013 and left more than 7,360 people dead or missing.
“I saw how Typhoon Odette tore the provincial capitol apart, piece by piece,” Dinagat PIO Crisostomo told the radio station DZBB, using the local name for Rai.
Thousands of military, police, coastguard and fire personnel were deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts. However, relief work, and efforts to determine the scale of the damage, have been hampered by the destruction caused by the storm, which has blocked highways and cut off phone lines and electricity in many areas.
Angeli Cantillana, a communications campaigner for Greenpeace South-east Asia, who spoke from Butuan after visiting Surigao, both badly affected areas, said communities she had met were yet to receive assistance.
“The situation right now is heartbreaking,” she said, describing the scenes along the 125km drive from Surigao to Butuan. “Just along the way you can see the houses are really damaged – both partially and fully damaged. A lot of houses don’t have roofs any more and a lot of families are staying outside their homes.”
All major phone networks in Surigao were yet to be restored, Cantillana said. “Coordination is really hard right now.”
The chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, Richard Gordon, said in a statement that its staff were reporting “complete carnage in the coastal areas”. “Homes, hospitals, school and community buildings have been ripped to shreds,” he said.
The Red Cross, which has launched an emergency appeal to fund relief and recovery efforts, said the storm had caused widespread flooding, affecting millions of people, and described Typhoon Rai as one of the most powerful storms on record to hit the southern Philippines.
Typhoon Rai is the strongest of 15 typhoons to hit the country this year. The archipelago, which is located in the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” region, is especially vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change. It experiences an average of 20 typhoons a year, usually between July and October.
Scientists have warned that such storms are becoming increasingly powerful as global temperatures rise.
“Disasters are getting worse and what the scientists have been saying in the IPCC [intergovernmental panel on climate change] – it has already been happening in the Philippines,” said Cantillana.
The speed with which Typhoon Rai intensified was a particular concern, she said. The local government response to such disasters had improved but the storms were becoming stronger.