MANILA, 28th December, 2022 (WAM) — The death toll from the Philippines' torrential rains and floods in Visayas and Mindanao has climbed to 25, the country's new agency (PNA) reported on Wednesday.
Rescue teams across nine provinces in the Philippines raced on Wednesday to try to locate 26 people missing in one of its deadliest weather events this year.
"Search and rescue operations continue, led by the coast guard as most of them were missing fishermen," the disaster agency's Diego Agustin Mariano told DZMM radio.
The rain-induced floods and landslides are unlike previous disasters in the Philippines, which are typically triggered by more severe typhoons and tropical storms, of which the archipelago nation usually sees about 20 each year.
The agency also recorded more than 300 flooded areas and 20 rain-induced landslides, which collectively have forced more than 80,000 people to take shelter in evacuation centres. Most of the floods have since subsided.