Typhoon Kalmaegi has turned central Cebu into a graveyard of homes, cars and memories. At least 66 people are dead, 26 are missing, and thousands are left homeless.
The storm, with winds reaching 130 kmph and gusts of 180, slammed into a province that hadn’t yet recovered from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck five weeks ago.
The floodwaters came fast, swallowing streets, breaching riverbanks, and forcing residents to cling to rooftops as their houses disappeared beneath them.
“We did everything we could for the typhoon, but, you know, there are really some unexpected things like flash floods,” Cebu governor Pamela Baricuatro told The Associated Press.
Most of the deaths were reported in Cebu, where rivers swollen with silt burst their banks.
“Torrential rains sparked by the typhoon may have been worsened by years of quarrying that caused heavy siltation of nearby rivers, which overflowed, and substandard flood control projects in Cebu province,” Baricuatro said. “There has to be an investigation of the flood control projects here in Cebu, and people should be held accountable.”
For months, Filipinos have been protesting revelations of substandard or non-existent flood control projects, ghost works that promised safety but delivered more graves.
Among the drowned were children, elderly residents, and entire families caught by flash floods in their sleep. In Talisay city, 38-year-old Eilene Oken stood where her house used to be, staring at a foundation buried under mud.
“We worked and saved for this for years, then in an instant, it was all gone,” she said, her voice breaking. “I’m grateful because my daughters are safe.”
As floodwaters receded, the scale of destruction emerged. Homes were torn apart, vehicles stacked like discarded toys, and streets coated in thick mud.
Tragedy struck again, when a Philippine Air Force helicopter crashed in Agusan del Sur on Tuesday, killing six personnel who were en route to deliver relief to storm-hit areas.
Rescue workers struggled to reach remote areas as communications broke down. Over 200,000 people were evacuated, but for many, the shelters offered little comfort.
The Philippine Red Cross received many calls from people needing rescue in Cebu from their roofs, its secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang said Tuesday, adding the efforts had to wait until flooding subsided to lessen the risks for emergency personnel.
Before the storm, nearly 387,000 people had been moved to safety across the Visayas and parts of Luzon and Mindanao. Yet the preparation was no match for Kalmaegi’s fury. Ferries were halted, airports shuttered, and over 3,500 passengers stranded.
Kalmaegi, locally named Tino, was the 20th storm to hit the Philippines this year. It moved across western Palawan into the South China Sea, now barreling toward Vietnam, where authorities are preparing for impact.