The death toll amid continuous rains brought by tropical storm “Lando” rose to 10 yesterday after separate landslides killed five miners and two women in Mindanao, disaster officials said.

The weather bureau meanwhile warned residents in Bicol against possible mudslides and landslides as a new storm is forecast to hit the area Friday.

The weather disturbance will be named “Mina” once it enters the Philippine area of responsibility, said Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) forecaster Rene Paciente.

Mina might also reach typhoon intensity, threatening areas in southern Luzon and the Visayas, Paciente said.

Lando changed course yesterday and crossed Puerto Princesa City in Palawan. It is forecast to gain strength within the next 18 to 24 hours and will be 200 kilometers west of Puerto Princesa this morning, Paciente said.

Lando is expected to leave the country this afternoon, but not without wreaking havoc in different parts of the country.

Packing winds of up to 65 kilometers an hour with gustiness of up to 80 kph, Lando was over Puerto Princesa yesterday after hitting the islands of Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay overnight, the weather bureau said.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of five gold panners who were pinned under boulders and soil that plummeted down a mountain onto their makeshift hut in Surigao del Norte’s mining town of Placer, said Blanchie Gobenciong, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).

In Surigao City, another landslide buried six houses, killing two women – one of them pregnant – and injuring at least two other people, Gobenciong said.

The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) also reported that 305 people or about 65 families were evacuated from four barangays in Surigao City due to the flooding.

It has been raining in the area since last week, with almost nonstop rains since Saturday, Gobenciong said.

In Iligan City, three persons drowned after the Tubod river and its tributaries overflowed their banks after three days of heavy rains.

The Philippine Coast Guard, meanwhile, is helping with retrieval operations along the coast of Iligan following reports that at least three persons were missing.

Power and water supply in Iligan City were being restored yesterday. The 69 kilo-volt A line in Barangay Kiwalan of Transco is undergoing repair due to the storm and power supply to the city has to be sourced from the Transco sub-station in Lugait, Misamis Oriental, Transco information officer Pete Chung said.

Water is being rationed by the Iligan City Waterworks System after the water pipe was destroyed during floods two days ago.

Public storm warning signal no. 2 was hoisted over Palawan, while Cuyo Island and Calamian Group of Islands are under signal no. 1.

Storm warning signals elsewhere were lowered, Pagasa said.

By tomorrow afternoon, the storm is forecast to be 510 kilometers west of Puerto Princesa City or in the vicinity of Pag-asa Islands.

The Surigao del Norte government has declared a state of calamity in four municipalities, namely Placer, Mainit, Sison and Tubod.

Nearly 3,000 people have also been affected by floods in Iligan and Surigao cities and Misamis Oriental, civil defense officials said.

In Catanduanes and Albay, heavy rains continuing for days have forced the evacuation of 703 people from Camalig and Bacacay towns due to flooding.

Landslides were reported in Barangay Malobago in Manito town, Albay as well as rockslides in barangays Banog-banog and Asgad in San Andres and in Barangay Balongbong in Bato town, all in Catanduanes, said Jason Aragon, operation officer of the OCD.

Aragon said 703 people or 121 families in the three barangays of Ilawod, Tagaytay and Barangay 4 in Camalig town as well as in Barangay Mataas in Bacacay were evacuated.

Flooding was also reported in Barangay Bulusan and the Libon-Pantao road, making the two barangays of Paclas and Zone 4 unpassable.

Low-lying areas in Legazpi City were also flooded, such as the road network fronting the Aquainas University in Barangay Rawis and Cabangan.

There were no reports of casualties yesterday.

The Surigao City Disaster Coordinating Council identified the two dead women as Leah Salvador, 23, who was three months pregnant, and Tita Salvador, 26, married with three children. Both were residents of sitio Cayutan, Barangay Cagniog, Surigao City.

Injured due to the landslide were Ricardo Ganzon, 41, and Gloria Ganzon, 50, both residents of the same area and now are confined at the Caraga Regional Hospital in Surigao City.

The miners killed in the landslide in Barangay Magsaysay, Placer were Diosdado Astronomo Leproso, 42, and Melencio Macas, 29, both residents of Barangay Magsaysay; Rodolfo Ragas Toyor, 45, Luigi Manto, 27, and Rodolfo Raagas Sr., 53, all residents of Barangay Laurel, Taganaan, Surigao del Norte, the RDCC said.

Tata Kumon, a social welfare officer in Placer, said two miners who managed to flee to safety had tried to warn the others but the victims failed to make it out of the hut fast enough.

Earlier, environmental watch groups like Green Mindanao have warned against inevitable disaster in the landslide sites and other areas in Surigao del Norte like barangays Urbiztondo, Taganito, Cagdianao, Adlay located along the border of Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte due to indiscriminate open-pit mining and quarrying.

Green Mindanao executive director Butch Dagondon said the government and mining companies should have prepared precautionary measures in the event of disasters and calamities.

The RDCC headed by Caraga Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Jaime Elorita Milla has called an emergency meeting to assess the situation in the region.

Lando is the 12th topical cyclone to enter the country this year and the second this month.

It was also the third tropical cyclone to make landfall.

Pagasa director Prisco Nilo said one to two more tropical cyclones are expected to enter the country towards the end of the year. – Ben Serrano, Helen Flores, Celso Amo, AFP, AP, Lino dela Cruz