The death toll from tropical storm Maring rose to eight on Wednesday as disaster officials reported that most of the flooding in areas affected, particularly in Metro Manila and Region 4A, or Calabarzon, had already subsided.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), however, only confirmed five deaths as the storm, which already veered out of the country, induced heavy rains that flooded Metro Manila and nearby provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Batangas and Rizal provinces.
“It is saddening that, while tropical storm Maring was not that strong, we have five confirmed fatalities,” NDRRMC Spokesman Romina Marasigan said.
Among the fatalities listed by NDRRMC were Jude and Justine Pundal, aged 17 and 14, who both died in a landslide in Taytay, Rizal; 12-year-old Samantha Zamora, who drowned in Pasay City; and a 2-month-old baby who died after a riprap collapsed onto their home in Lucena City.
Marasigan said the fifth fatality was from Silang, Cavite.
Not included in the NDRRMC list, however, was William Inalisan, 16, a resident of Saint Jude, Gawad Kalinga in San Isidro, Parañaque City, who reportedly drowned on Tuesday.
The police also reported one fatality in Rizal town and another in Calamba City, both in Laguna.
Marasigan said a total of 2,103 families, or 8,793 people, were affected by the storm in 109 barangays in Metro Manila and Calabarzon.
Of the affected families, some 1,857 composed of 7,594 individuals have been transferred to 116 evacuation centers, while 96 families, or 389 persons, are being served outside evacuation centers.
Marasigan also reported that nine houses were damaged in Silang, Cavite, three of which were totally destroyed.
The NDRRMC said that of the 169 areas in Metro Manila and Calabarzon that were earlier reported flooded, 139 areas remain submerged in floodwaters.
Laguna, which was among the hardest hit by flooding, has already declared a state of calamity.