Death Toll Passes 140 as Philippines Reels from Typhoon Kalmaegi

The death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi in the central Philippines has climbed to more than 140, officials said Thursday, as the scale of devastation in hard-hit Cebu province came into sharper focus after the worst flooding in decades.

The national civil defense office confirmed 114 fatalities, a figure that does not include 28 additional deaths recorded by Cebu provincial authorities. Another 127 people remain missing.

Torrents of floodwater — described by officials as unprecedented — tore through Cebu’s cities and towns on Wednesday, sweeping away cars, riverside homes and even shipping containers.

Cebu spokesman Rhon Ramos said 35 bodies were recovered in Liloan, part of Metro Cebu, bringing the provincial toll to 76.

On nearby Negros Island, at least 12 people were killed and 12 others remain missing after volcanic debris on Mount Kanlaon was dislodged by Kalmaegi’s rain and buried homes in Canlaon City, police said. Only one of those deaths had been included in the government’s earlier count of 17 fatalities outside Cebu, which also covered six soldiers killed in a helicopter crash during a relief mission.

Residents across Metro Cebu described a sudden surge of water in the early hours of Wednesday.

“Around four or five in the morning, the water was so strong you couldn’t even step outside,” said shop owner Reynaldo Vergara, 53, in Mandaue. “Nothing like this has ever happened. The water was raging.”

In Talisay, 26-year-old Regie Mallorca had already begun rebuilding after his riverside home was washed away. “This will take months. I don’t have the money,” he said.

Cebu City and surrounding areas were drenched with 183 mm of rain in 24 hours — far above the monthly average of 131 mm — before Kalmaegi made landfall, the state weather bureau said.

Governor Pamela Baricuatro has called the disaster “unprecedented” and linked the severity of flooding to a corruption scandal involving billions of pesos in so-called “ghost” flood control projects. Authorities have yet to verify the claim.

Nearly 800,000 people were evacuated ahead of the storm, which has now moved into the South China Sea and is heading toward Vietnam, where days of heavy flooding have already killed dozens.

The Philippines, one of the world’s most storm-exposed countries, is hit by an average of 20 cyclones a year. Kalmaegi is the 20th so far in 2025, and forecasters say up to five more may form before year’s end.

Scientists warn that climate change is intensifying storms, with warmer seas fueling rapid typhoon strengthening and a hotter atmosphere carrying more moisture, resulting in heavier rainfall.