MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Officials say tens of thousands of villagers in the southern Philippines spent their Christmas morning in emergency shelters as the death toll from a powerful storm continued to climb.
The government’s disaster agency said Monday that Tropical Storm Tembin has left at least 164 people dead and 171 others missing.
The storm unleashed landslides and flash floods mostly in the hard-hit provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur and on the Zamboanga Peninsula. It strengthened into a typhoon before blowing out of the country Sunday into the South China Sea toward Vietnam
Disaster officials say more than 20,800 families remained in 261 evacuation centers across the south, while 16,500 other families sought shelter in relatives’ homes.