<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Landslides and flooding killed 31 people as heavy rain from an approaching storm lashed the southern Philippines, a disaster official said on Friday.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The storm unleashed flash floods carrying uprooted trees, rocks and mud overnight in mainly rural communities around Cotabato, a city of 300,000 people on Mindanao Island.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many residents were caught by surprise by the rapidly rising floodwaters, Naguib Sinarimbo, the spokesman and civil defence chief for the regional government, told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The water started entering the houses before dawn," Sinarimbo said, confirming that the death toll in the storm-hit areas had risen to 31 from the earlier tally of 13.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rescuers retrieved 16 bodies from Datu Odin Sinsuat, 10 from Datu Blah Sinsuat and five from Upi town, he told reporters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Teams in rubber boats had to rescue some residents from rooftops, Sinarimbo added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Local filmmaker Remar Pablo told AFP he was shooting a beauty pageant in the town of Upi when the floodwaters suddenly came in after midnight and forced audience members to flee for safety.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A row of cars sat half-submerged on the street outside, his clips showed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We were stranded inside," said Pablo, who eventually waded into the water to get home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rescuers carried a baby in a plastic tub as they waded through chest-deep water, a photo posted by the provincial police showed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'It was a shock'</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Floodwaters have receded in several areas, but Cotabato City remained almost entirely waterlogged.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sinarimbo said there could be more flooding on Friday because of heavy rain.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our focus at this time is rescue as well as setting up community kitchens for the survivors," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The army deployed its trucks to collect stranded residents in Cotabato and eight nearby towns, provincial civil defence chief Nasrullah Imam said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It was a shock to see municipalities which had never flooded getting hit this time," Imam said, adding that some families were swept away when the waters hit their homes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The heavy rainfall began late Thursday in the impoverished region, which is under Muslim self-rule after decades of separatist armed rebellion.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state weather office in Manila said it was partly caused by Tropical Storm Nalgae, which it expects to strengthen at landfall.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nalgae was now heading toward the northern or central sections of the Philippines, with the state weather service saying it was not ruling out a landfall on Samar Island later on Friday, much earlier than earlier forecast.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nearly 5,000 people were evacuated from flood- and landslide-prone communities in these areas, the civil defence office said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The coast guard also suspended ferry services in much of the archipelago nation where tens of thousands of people board boats each day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An average of 20 typhoons and storms strike the Philippines each year, killing people and livestock and destroying farms, houses, roads and bridges, although the south is rarely hit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>