One of the most powerful storms of the year, Typhoon Kalmaegi (locally known as Tino), has left a trail of destruction across the central Philippines, killing at least 85 people and displacing over 400,000.
The disaster hit the province of Cebu hardest, where 49 of the fatalities occurred as rivers overflowed, turning streets into torrents that swept away cars and shipping containers. On Tuesday, December 16, 2025, Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro declared a state of calamity, describing the flooding as “unprecedented” and noting that while the region prepared for high winds, it was the rapid surge of water that proved most lethal.
The tragedy was compounded by a military disaster on the southern island of Mindanao. A Philippine Air Force helicopter deployed for relief operations crashed in Agusan del Sur on Tuesday, killing all six crew members on board.
Search and rescue teams recovered the bodies after communication with the aircraft was lost during the storm’s peak. Meanwhile, in Cebu, volunteer rescuers and residents described a scene of total overwhelm, with 19-year-old volunteer Carlos Jose Lañas telling the BBC that even emergency responders were caught off-guard by the scale of the flooding, which saw almost every river in the province burst its banks.
This latest disaster follows a brutal season for the Philippines, which has already been battered by back-to-back typhoons earlier this fall. The region is also still recovering from a powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck on September 30, 2025.
Public anger is mounting over the failure of flood control systems, with many citizens blaming corruption and substandard infrastructure for the high casualty rates. As the sun begins to emerge in Cebu, residents face the daunting task of clearing thick mud and debris, while the storm moves toward Vietnam, which is already bracing for record-breaking rainfall.
