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A drone view shows a man crossing a muddy street where cars piled up after being swept away in floods brought on by Typhoon Kalmaegi which piled up at a subdivision in Bacayan, Cebu City, Philippines, November 5, 2025. — Reuters
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The death toll from Typhoon Kalamagi in the central Philippines climbed to 100 on Wednesday as the devastating impact on Cebu province became apparent after the worst flooding in recent memory.
The floodwaters were described as unprecedented since they entered the province’s towns and cities a day earlier, sweeping away cars, riverside shanties and even massive shipping containers.
Cebu spokesman Ron Ramos told AFP that 35 bodies had been recovered from flooded areas in Leluan, a town that is part of the metro area of the provincial capital, Cebu City. The grim news lifted Cebu to 76.
On neighboring Negros Island, at least 12 people were killed and 12 more were missing when driving rains from Kilmegi unleashed a volcanic mudflow that then buried homes in Canelon City, police Lt. Stephen Polinar said.
“The eruption of Kunlawan volcano last year deposited volcanic material on its upper parts. When it rained, those deposits seeped into the villages,” he told AFP.
A previous regime of 17 deaths outside Cebu included only one Negro death.
The figure included six crew members of a military helicopter that crashed during a typhoon relief mission.
‘The water was pouring’
AFP reporters spoke to residents in the worst-hit areas of Cebu on Wednesday as they cleared roads flooded by rivers the day before.
“Around four in the morning, the water was so strong that you couldn’t even go out,” added 53-year-old Reynaldo Vergara.
“It never happened. The water was running.”
In nearby Talisay, where an informal settlement along a river bank had been dismantled, AFP found 26-year-old Regi Mallorca already at work rebuilding his house.
“It will take time because I don’t have the money yet. It will take months,” he said, mixing cement and sand on top of the rubble.
The area around Cebu City was drenched with 183 millimeters (seven inches) of rain in the 24 hours before the landfall in Kilmegi, higher than its monthly average of 131 millimeters, meteorologist Charman Varela told AFP.
On Tuesday, provincial governor Pamela Barricotro described the situation as “unprecedented” and “catastrophic”.
Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful due to climate change. Warmer oceans allow typhoons to strengthen faster, and a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which means heavier rain.
In total, about 800,000 people were evacuated from the typhoon’s path.
Seeing ghosts
The catastrophic loss of life in Cebu comes as the public is exposed to a scandal involving so-called ghost flood control projects that are believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
On Wednesday, Governor Baricotero called the corruption scandal and his spokesman an “extraordinary” flood in a cluster of subdivisions that followed.
“You start asking the question why are we having terrible floods here when you have Ph26.6 billion (2,452 million) for flood control projects (in the national budget),” he said in an interview with local outlet ABS-CBN.
“Certainly we’ve seen projects here … that I would say are ghost projects,” he said. He added that his inspection team did not see a single structure conforming to official standards.
A spokesman for the Department of Public Works and Highways, the government agency at the center of the scandal, told AFP that department head Vince Dizon was already in Cebu to inspect typhoon damage.
“After his inspection there, maybe he will comment,” he said.
More storms are coming
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year, which routinely hit disaster-prone areas where millions of people live in poverty.
Meteorologist Varela said that with the peninsular country already reaching that average with Kalmyagi, at least “three to five more” cyclones can be expected by the end of December.
The Philippines was hit by two major typhoons in September, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which tore roofs off buildings on its way to killing 14 people in nearby Taiwan.
As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Kalmygee was moving west toward the South China Sea and Vietnam, where officials warned it could add to the damage from a week of flooding that has already killed dozens of people.
