Tropical Storm Tebin, which swept through the southern Philippines between Friday and Sunday, causing floods and landslides, left 240 dead, according to a new report released by authorities today. Hurricane Tebin swept across the large southern island of Mindanao, which is generally unaffected by the twenty tropical storms recorded each year in the archipelago.
Police spoke yesterday about 208 dead. However, civil protection officials said today that the death toll had risen to 78 on the Zamboanga Peninsula and to 27 in the central province of Lanao del Sint.
Police said the death toll - 135 - has not changed in northern Mindanao. But rescuers are continuing to search for 107 people, whose fate is unknown, across the island of 20 million.
About 13.000 families, or at least 52.000 people, spent Christmas in reception centers, many of whom lost everything in the storm.
Tebin left the archipelago on Sunday morning and headed for the South China Sea. Meteorologists predict that the storm may hit Vietnam tonight.
Tropical storms are rare but not new to Mindanao. Hurricane Boff left 1.900 dead and missing in December 2012. Hurricane Wahi had killed 1.080 people a year earlier.
Haiyan, finally one of the most violent hurricanes to hit the land, swept the islands in the central Philippines in November 2013, with winds blowing at speeds of more than 315 km per hour. Huge waves, similar to those of the tsunami, destroyed everything in their path. This natural disaster left behind more than 7.350 dead and missing and more than four million homeless.