Tropical Storm Yagi Kills 7 in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines—Floods and a landslide killed seven people in the Philippines on Sept. 2 as Tropical Storm Yagi, locally known as Enteng, dumped heavy rain on the capital, Manila, and nearby provinces, a disaster agency official said.
In a hilly community in Antipolo, east of Manila, two schoolboys and a 27-year-old pregnant woman were killed when a landslide hit two houses, Relly Bernardo, the city’s disaster management chief, said on Sept. 2.
“This is a landslide-prone area, and we have been encouraging them to leave for the longest time with offers of housing in other locations,” he told radio station DWPM.
Bernardo said four other people died in separate incidents of drowning in the same province, Rizal, where some homes were submerged by floods.
The Philippines typically records an average of 20 tropical storms annually—many of them typhoons—with landslides among the main causes of casualties.
Heavy rains flooded streets and homes in parts of the country on Sept. 2, prompting the suspension of government work and classes.
Yagi brought winds of up to 53 mph, with gusts reaching 65 mph, as it continued to move northwest on Luzon, the Philippines’ biggest and most populous island.
“The water was gushing. … rising close to the rooftop of houses,” Gloria Nicolas, a resident in Rizal province, said.
“Some residents got trapped and had to escape by passing through the roofs of houses.”