JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Kalmaegi killed at least 26 people in the Philippines, mostly from flooding caused by the storm that hit the central part of the country on Tuesday, disaster officials said. Floodwaters trapped dozens of people on rooftops and swamped cars.
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In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, residents evacuate to safer areas as Typhoon Calmaegi approaches the San Miguel area, Leyte province, Philippines, Monday, November 3, 2025. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)
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In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, residents evacuate to safer areas as Typhoon Calmaegi approaches the San Miguel area, Leyte province, Philippines, Monday, November 3, 2025. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)
A Philippine Air Force helicopter with five personnel on board crashed in a separate incident in southern Agusan del Sur province while flying to provide humanitarian assistance to provinces affected by Calmaega.
The Super Huey helicopter crashed near the city of Loreto and efforts are underway to locate the Air Force personnel on board, the Eastern Mindanao Military Command said in a statement.
Military officials did not immediately provide other details about the crash, including the condition of the five Air Force personnel on board or what may have caused the crash.
Kalmaegi was last seen over the coastal waters of the Jordanian city in the central province of Guimaras with sustained winds of 81 mph and gusts of up to 182 mph. It was forecast to sweep into the South China Sea late Tuesday or early Wednesday after striking the western province of Palawan.
Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, deputy director of the Office of Civil Defense, said at least 26 people were reported dead – many of them from flooding in Cebu province and other central island provinces hit by Calmaega, the 20th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippine archipelago this year. Details of these typhoon deaths are still being verified, he said.
Among the dead was an elderly villager who drowned in floodwaters in Southern Leyte, where power outages were reported across the province after the typhoon made landfall around midnight in an eastern town. Local authorities reported that a resident of Bohol province died after being hit by a falling tree.
Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross, said an unspecified number of residents were trapped on rooftops in the coastal town of Liloan on Cebu island, adding that vehicles were either submerged during the floods or floated to the surface in another town in Cebu.
“We have received so many calls from people asking us to rescue them from their roofs and from their houses, but it is not possible,” Pang told The Associated Press on Tuesday morning. “There is so much trash here, you see cars floating, so we have to wait for the flood to subside.”
Cebu Province was still recovering from magnitude 6.9 earthquake On September 30, houses collapsed or were seriously damaged, killing at least 79 people and displacing thousands.
In Eastern Samar, one of the east-central provinces first hit by Kalmaegi early Tuesday, strong winds either tore off roofs or damaged about 300 mostly rural shacks in the island community of Homonhon, which is part of the city of Guiuan, but there were no reports of deaths or injuries, Mayor Annalisa Gonzalez Kwan said.
“There was no flooding, just strong winds,” Kwan told the AP by phone. “We're okay. We'll get through this. We've been through a lot and more than this.”
In November 2013 Typhoon HaiyanOne of the most powerful tropical cyclones on record hit the coast of Guiuan. It then swept through the central Philippines, leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing, leveling entire villages and sweeping dozens of ships inland. Haiyan destroyed nearly 1 million homes and displaced more than 4 million people in one of the country's poorest regions.
Before the typhoon made landfall, officials said more than 387,000 people had been evacuated to safer locations in the Philippines' eastern and central provinces. Authorities warned of heavy rain, potentially damaging winds and storm surges of nearly 10 feet.
Inter-island couples and fishing vessels were barred from entering increasingly rough seas, leaving more than 3,500 passengers and truck drivers stranded at nearly 100 seaports, according to the coast guard. At least 186 domestic flights were cancelled.
The Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms every year. The country also suffers frequently from earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoesmaking it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
Joel Calupitan and Aaron Favila contributed to this report.
