Philippine typhoon, southwest monsoon death toll top 33

Eleven people died in the Philippine capital region, Manila, and 12 in the Calabarzon region, and 10 from Central Luzon, including the crew of an oil tanker that sunk off Bataan province on Thursday.

Gaemi, the third storm to hit the Philippines this year, left the country on Thursday morning, leaving a trail of destruction as it barreled through towns and villages. The typhoon forced hundreds of thousands of villages to abandon communities prone to flood and landslides, toppled trees and electrical posts, and ripped off tin roofs.

Landslides and flash floods are common across the Philippines during the rainy season, especially when a typhoon hits. In 2013, the Philippines was hit by super typhoon Haiyan, which claimed over 7,000 lives.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard plans to deploy oil dispersal and floating barriers a day after a tanker carrying 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel sank off Manila.

An oil slick stretching several kilometers has been detected in the waterway, which thousands of fishermen and tourism operators rely on for their livelihoods. But Coast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo told a briefing on Thursday that it appeared diesel fuel used to power the tanker had leaked and, so far, not the industrial fuel oil cargo.

The Coast Guard has set a target of seven days to offload the cargo and prevent what Balilo warned would be the worst oil spill in Philippine history if it were to leak.