Manila - Philippine relief officials on Tuesday braced for a new storm threatening to hit the country as the death toll from storm Kujira last week rose to 27, the government said. The National Disaster Coordinating Council said 21 of the deaths occurred in a landslide that buried half of a village in Magallanes town in Sorsogon province, 375 kilometres south of Manila.
The council said at least three people were still missing in the deadly landslide in Hubo village, where more than a dozen houses were buried when a hillside collapsed in heavy rains Friday.
Other fatalities included a 2-month-old girl who was crushed when a house collapsed in nearby Irosin town, also in Sorsogon.
Two people drowned in a swollen river in Camarines Norte, and three others were electrocuted in the provinces of Camarines Sur and Catanduanes.
The weather bureau said a new storm could hit the northern Philippines Wednesday. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 64 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 100 kph.
Meanwhile, the storm Kujira continued to strengthen as it moved away from the country, the bureau said. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 160 kph.
Kujira was located 1,050 kilometres east of Cagayan province and was moving east-north-east at 22 kph.
