Floods and landslides leave six dead in Philippines

Floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain have killed six people in the Philippines, with one other person missing, rescuers said Thursday.

Rain began pounding wide areas of Mindanao, the country's second-largest island, last weekend, causing floods and landslides that officials said sent thousands fleeing to emergency shelters.

The hardest-hit areas were the mountainous municipality of Maragusan, which recorded 23 landslides since Sunday, and the adjacent town of New Bataan where more than 10,000 people were evacuated from flooded homes.

Three people were killed and a fourth was missing in the Maragusan landslides, its municipal disaster officer Romeo Tublag told AFP.

"Our town is surrounded by mountains so landslides are an ever-present threat. It's been raining almost daily here," Tublag said.

In New Bataan, a landslide killed a man while a woman was swept away and killed by floodwaters and another man electrocuted outside his flooded house, disaster official Aeona Armocilla told AFP.

Swollen rivers flooded three villages, forcing the evacuation of 10,100 residents, Armocilla said, adding that it was still raining in the area late Thursday.

Floods also hit the municipalities of Bunawan and Veruela in nearby Agusan del Sur province, with more than 5,000 people sheltering in evacuation centres, provincial disaster official Alexis Cabardo told AFP.