At least 46 killed as Typhoon Kalmaegi batters the Philippines | Weather News | USAEMALL.com

A Philippine military helicopter crashed during search and rescue operations, killing all six people on board.

The death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi in the Philippines has reached 46, including six people on a military helicopter that crashed during the powerful storm that unleashed heavy rains and floods across the central region of the country.

Floodwaters trapped many people on their roofs and submerged cars on Tuesday, and entire towns on the island of Cebu have been inundated.

At least 39 people were killed in the central province of Cebu, local authorities said. One person was reported dead on the nearby island of Bohol.

The Huey helicopter went down in Agusan del Sur on the island of Mindanao, where it was conducting a humanitarian disaster response mission, the military said. Six bodies of the crew were recovered and an investigation was under way.

In the 24 hours before Typhoon Kalmaegi, locally named Tino, made landfall shortly before midnight on Monday, the area around provincial capital Cebu City was deluged with 183 millimetres (seven inches) of rain, well in excess its 131-millimetre monthly average, state weather specialist Charmagne Varilla told AFP.

“The water rose so fast,” Don del Rosario, 28, told the news wire AFP from Cebu City. “By 4:00am, it was already uncontrollable — people couldn’t get out [of their houses].”

“I’ve been here for 28 years, and this is by far the worst we’ve experienced.”

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, provincial governor Pamela Baricuatro called the situation in Cebu “unprecedented”.

“We were expecting the winds to be the dangerous part, but … the water is what’s truly putting our people at risk,” Baricuatro said on Facebook. “The floodwaters are just devastating.”

Although the storm gradually lost strength on Tuesday, it continued to lash the country with winds of 120km/h (74.5mph) and gusts of 165km/h (102.5mph) as it swept across the Visayas islands headed for northern Palawan and towards the South China Sea.

Tens of thousands of residents were evacuated across the Visayas region, including parts of southern Luzon and northern Mindanao, authorities said. The typhoon was expected to leave the Philippines late on Wednesday or early Thursday.

“Due to interaction with the terrain, Tino may slightly weaken while crossing Visayas. However, it is expected to remain at typhoon intensity throughout its passage over the country,” state weather agency PAGASA said in a morning bulletin.

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, routinely striking disaster-prone areas where millions live in poverty. The Philippines was hit by two major storms in September, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which killed at least three people and forced thousands to evacuate from villages and schools in Northern Philippines.

Kalmaegi is forecast to make landfall on Thursday night in Vietnam’s central regions, which have already suffered heavy floods that killed at least 40 people and left six others missing over the past week.