Floods, Landslides Kill at Least 20 People in Southern Philippines

Floods, Landslides Kill at Least 20 People in Southern Philippines
A man wades through floodwaters brought about by heavy rains at a residential neighbourhood in Propseridad town, Agusan del Sur Province on southern Mindanao island on Feb. 1, 2024. (Erwin Mascarinas/AFP via Getty Images)
Reuters
2/5/2024
Updated:
2/5/2024

MANILA—At least 20 people have died after days of torrential rains in parts of the southern Philippines, provincial disaster agencies said on Monday.

Thirteen people died in Davao de Oro Province while two were missing, and seven people were killed in neighboring Davao del Norte, disaster agency officials said.

A northeast monsoon and trough of a low-pressure area brought rains in the southern Mindanao region from Jan. 28 to Feb. 2, resulting in deadly floods and landslides, data from the national disaster agency show.

More than 812,000 persons were affected, of which around 85,000 people took shelter in evacuation centers, it added.

In mid-January, 18 people died due to floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains in the southern Philippines.

Landslides and floods are frequent in the Southeast Asian nation, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands that is hit by about 20 tropical storms annually.