One Dead and Seven Missing Due to Philippine Storm Trami



In the central province of Masbate, one person died after being hit by the fall of a tree branch, while seven people were reported missing, including three men fishing in the high seas who did not return.



The Philippine government has closed public schools and government offices - except those needed for disaster response - across the main island of Luzon to protect millions of people as Trami approaches land.


The Philippine Meteorological Agency predicted that the storm would reach the coast of Aurora province tonight and then cross north of the island of Luzon before leaving for the South China Sea at the end of the week.


At least 32,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters in northeastern provinces and storm warnings were issued in more than two dozen northern and central provinces, including the capital, Manila.


Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Junior called an emergency meeting at the military headquarters to discuss disaster mitigation efforts.


During the meeting, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said aircraft and military ships were being used for evacuations and disaster response and added that the Philippines could ask for help from friendly countries, including Singapore.


"People have been trapped on the roofs of their houses for several hours," former Vice President Leni Robredo, who lives in the northeastern city of Naga, said on social media. "Many of our rescue trucks stopped due to the floods," he lamented.


The coast guard has been rescuing residents in flooded villages in the Philippines' eastern provinces since Tuesday, but regional authorities said the number of boats and rescue personnel was not enough.


Thousands of passengers and cargo workers were stranded in several seaports after the coast guard suspended ferry services between the archipelago's islands and banned fishing boats from venturing out to sea.


The governor of neighboring Quezon province, Angelina Tan, said flooding in some areas reached three meters and that at least eight thousand residents had been evacuated from coastal communities.


About 20 storms and typhoons hit the Philippines every year.


In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones on record in the world, left more than 7,300 dead or missing, destroyed entire villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than five million Filipinos in the central Philippines.