By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY

The death toll from floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Seniang has risen to at least 53 in the Philippines, officials said Wednesday.

The storm, also known as Jangmi, brought heavy rains to southern Mindanao island Monday, where floods destroyed bridges and roads and forced thousands of residents to flee to evacuation centers.

By Tuesday it hit the country’s eastern and central islands, where most of the deaths occurred.

Alexander Pama, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council executive director, told reporters Wednesday that eight people also remain missing.

"In areas where Seniang passed through, the relief operations are ongoing, such as in the town of Loboc and other areas where we have fatalities,” he said. “The other areas are trying to get back to normal, like eastern Mindanao.”

The Council reported 14 flashflood and 12 landslide incidents, with 117 houses suffering damage or destruction.

Blowing at gusts of up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour), Seniang killed 19 people when a landslide buried two vans and six houses near a mountainside highway in eastern Catbalogan City.

In eastern Leyte province's Tanauan town, devastated last year by Typhoon Yolanda, army rescuers retrieved five bodies from a house buried by a landslide.

State weather bureau PAGASA announced Wednesday that Seniang had weakened into a tropical depression as it heads toward the western island province of Palawan with maximum sustained winds of 34 miles (55 kilometers) per hour near the center.

In its 10 a.m. (2 a.m.) weather bulletin, the bureau said Palawan residents should expect moderate to heavy rains and winds of around 20-40 miles per hour by Thursday morning.

The storm is expected to move outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility by Friday morning and toward Thailand or Malaysia.

The bureau has warned residents in low-lying and mountainous areas of the province against possible flashfloods and landslides.

Earlier this month, Typhoon Hagupit affected more than 1 million Filipinos, causing at least 21 deaths. Last year Yolanda left more than 6,300 dead with a further 1,000 still missing. An average of 15 typhoons hit the Philippines every year.

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