The death toll from tropical storm Vinta that struck the southern Philippines has risen to 74 as massive mudslides wiped out a mountain village, officials said Saturday. Nineteen deaths were reported near the town of Tubod on Friday on Mindanao, where Vinta (international name: Tembin) unleashed flash floods and mudslides, police said. The village is no longer there,” Tubod police officer Gerry Parami told Agence France Presse by telephone. After slicing across Mindanao on Friday, the storm sped west over the Sulu Sea with gusts of 95 kilometers an hour. Vinta struck less than a week after Tropical Storm Urduja (Kai-Tak) devastated the central Philippines, leaving 54 dead and 24 missing.

Source: Manila Times December 23, 2017 06:22 UTC