Philippines storm death toll hits 67: Scores missing

MANILA, Apr 13 (AFP/BBC): The death toll from landslides and floods in the Philippines rose to 67 on Wednesday with scores missing and feared dead, officials said, as rescuers dug up more bodies with bare hands and backhoes in crushed villages.
Most of the deaths from tropical storm Megi-the strongest to hit the archipelago this year-were in the central province of Leyte, where a series of landslides devastated communities.
Thirteen people died and around 150 were missing in the coastal village of Pilar, which is part of Abuyog municipality, after a torrent of mud and earth pushed houses into the sea and buried most of the settlement, Abuyog Mayor Lemuel Traya said.
Rescue crews were still looking for survivors in flooded villages on Wednesday, digging through mud and wading through chest-high water.
However the death toll from Sunday's natural disaster is only expected to climb, officials say.
Villages around Baybay city in the central Leyte province are worse hit.
There, hillside avalanches and overflowing rivers wiped out homes and buried many people alive. The city's mayor Jose Carlos Cari told news outlet CNN that at least 47 people in the area had been killed.
In one village, Pilar, about 80% of the houses had been washed out to sea, a government official told news agency AFP.
Philippines national disaster agency has also reported deaths in the southern Davao region, Mindanao and in the central Negros Orientals province.
More than 100,000 people in southern and eastern Philippines islands have been affected by the storm, authorities say.
Many fled their homes to shelters or higher ground on Sunday when the storm, known locally as Agaton, hit the archipelago with winds of up to 65km/h (40mph).
Pictures posted by the Philippines Coast Guard show rescuers carrying the injured on stretchers through chest-high water and ferrying survivors on rafts down flooded streets.
The rescue effort has been hampered by constant rain, although conditions eased on Tuesday.