Floods leave 600,000 Filipinos homeless

These prolonged heavy rains also killed 20 people.

Philippine officials said that about 600,000 Filipinos are still in temporary shelters in government evacuation centers or in relatives' homes due to heavy rains in the past few days in the country.

Most of those who have not returned home are farmers and fishermen in the central Luzon region, where 481 villages are still under about 1 meter of water, said Timoteo, head of the civil defense agency. “We are still providing them with necessities,” she said.

Receiving flood relief goods in Manila (photo: Reuters).

The flooded areas are low-lying areas. The lives of people in these areas are closely linked to floods and storms. Therefore, flood prevention and rescue work here is also prepared every year.

The weather is improving, she added, but people will not be able to return home until next week, so classes will remain temporarily suspended in these areas.

The Health Department has also sprayed pesticides in evacuation camps to prevent disease outbreaks. There have been no reports of disease outbreaks so far, Ms. Timoteo said.

The Philippine government said the floods caused a total of about $2.2 billion in damage to infrastructure and crops.

Heavy rains began to hit the capital Manila and surrounding provinces on August 18. Floodwaters submerged more than half the city on August 20 and killed 20 people. The rains were intensified by Tropical Storm Trami, which made landfall in eastern China on August 22.

The Philippines is affected by about 20 typhoons and tornadoes every year. Typhoons often occur in the last 6 months of the year, causing many deaths./.

According to VOV - DT