Another tropical storm hits the Philippines, causing 4 deaths and new evacuations

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Another tropical storm barreled across Philippine islands on Friday, causing at least four deaths and the evacuations of more than 433,000 people from landslide- and flood-prone villages long battered by typhoons.

Bualoi, which has weakened since making landfall overnight, was the latest of back-to-back storms from the Pacific to threaten Asia. Typhoon Ragasa, one of the strongest to hit in years, caused at least 25 deaths in the northern Philippines and Taiwan, mostly from flooding, before making landfall in China and dissipating over Vietnam.

Bualoi made landfall in the Philippine town of San Policarpo in Eastern Samar province late Thursday with sustained winds of 110 kph (68 mph), knocking out power in east-central provinces and setting off flooding and two minor landslides, the country’s disaster-mitigation agency said.

More than 433,000 were evacuated to government emergency shelters as the storm approached, including in Albay province, where villagers on the foothills of Mayon, one of the country's most active volcanoes, were asked to move to safety due to possible volcanic mudflows, Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV from the civil defense office told reporters.

The four deaths were in the central island province of Masbate. Three were hit separately by a falling tree, a collapsed wall and falling debris and a fourth was hit by lightning Thursday night, officials said.

“We need clearing operations because most of our road networks are not really passable for food and health assistance to pass,” Masbate Gov. Ricardo Kho told a news conference. “We also need help to have our ports reopened as early as possible for us to receive help from different provinces.”

Bualoi, locally named Opong, was the 15th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year.

The fast-moving storm, which has a rain and wind band of about 450 kilometers (280 miles) from its center, was blowing northwest and could blow over densely populated coastal provinces south of the capital, Manila, later Friday before entering the South China Sea. It could restrengthen to a typhoon on a course toward Vietnam, Philippine forecaster said.

The latest storm hit at a sensitive time in the Philippines. Multiple investigations have implicated several lawmakers, including allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in a corruption scandal involving flood control and related infrastructure projects. Allegations of massive kickbacks that have financed lavish lifestyles of those involved have sparked public outrage and protests in this Southeast Asian country prone to deadly floodings and typhoons.

Marcos described the scale of corruption and its impact on ordinary Filipinos as “horrible.”

Officials say the alleged massive corruption has undermined the infrastructure needed to mitigate the effect of more intense weather disturbances caused by climate change.

Two dismissed government engineers told a Senate inquiry this week that most flood control projects, road and other infrastructure projects built in Bulacan, a flood-prone province of 3.7 million people near Manila, were made substandard or overpriced in the last six years to compensate for huge kickbacks given to congressmen and senators.