Typhoon Kalmaegi leaves 114 dead, 127 missing in Philippines, many in province recovering from quake

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials said Thursday the death toll from widespread flooding and devastation caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi in the country’s central region has risen to at least 114 with 127 people reported missing, many of them in a hard-hit province still recovering from a deadly earthquake.

Most of the deaths were reported in the central province of Cebu, which was pummeled by Kalmaegi on Tuesday, setting off flash floods and causing a river and other waterways to overflow, said Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense.

Kalmaegi moved away from western Palawan province into the South China Sea before noon Wednesday and was barreling toward Vietnam, according to forecasters.

Among the dead were six people who were killed when a Philippine air force helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday. The crew was on its way to provide humanitarian help to provinces battered by Kalmaegi, the military said. It did not give the cause of the crash.

Provincial officials said Kalmaegi set off flash floods and caused a river and other waterways to swell. The resulting flooding engulfed residential communities, forcing residents to climb on their roofs, where they desperately pleaded to be rescued as the floodwaters rose, officials said.

At least 71 people died in Cebu, mostly due to drownings, 65 others were reported missing and 69 injured, the Office of Civil Defense said.

It added that 62 others were reported missing in the central province of Negros Occidental, which is located near Cebu.

“We did everything we can for the typhoon but, you know, there are really some unexpected things like flash floods,” Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro told The Associated Press by telephone.

Caloy Ramirez, a volunteer rescuer, said the massive flooding set off by the typhoon turned an upscale riverside residential community in Cebu city on Tuesday into an unrecognizable scene of tumbled SUVs and houses in disarray.

Residents said floodwater engulfed the first floors of their houses in just a few minutes, sending them scrambling to upper floors or roofs in panic.

“We always expect the worst and what I saw yesterday was the worst,” Ramirez told The AP. He described how the faces of desperate residents would light up when they realized they were being rescued.

The problems may have been made worse by years of quarrying that caused clogging of nearby rivers, which overflowed, and substandard flood control projects in Cebu province, Baricuatro said.

A corruption scandal involving substandard or non-existent flood control projects across the Philippines has sparked public outrage and street protests in recent months.

Cebu, a bustling province of more than 2.4 million people, declared a state of calamity to allow authorities to disburse emergency funds more rapidly.

Cebu was still recovering from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 30 that left at least 79 people dead and displaced thousands when houses collapsed or were severely damaged.

Thousands of northern Cebu residents who were displaced by the earthquake were moved to sturdier evacuation shelters from flimsy tents before the typhoon struck, Baricuatro said. Northern towns devastated by the earthquake were mostly not hit by floods generated by Kalmaegi, she added.

Before Kalmaegi’s landfall, officials said more than 387,000 people had evacuated to safer ground in eastern and central Philippine provinces.

Ferries and fishing boats were prohibited from venturing out to increasingly rough seas, stranding more than 3,500 passengers and cargo truck drivers in nearly 100 seaports, the coast guard said. At least 186 domestic flights were canceled.

The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. The country also is often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

Central Vietnam, still reeling from days of record rain that triggered flash floods and landslides, was bracing for more pounding rain as Kalmaegi nears.

Fishing boats returned to shore while local authorities readied evacuation plans, secured shelters and stockpiled food, state media reported.

Associated Press journalists Aniruddha Ghosal in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul in Bangkok contributed to this report.

In this photo provided by the Philippine Air Force, Philippine Air Force personnel retrieve the remains of the pilots and crew of the Super Huey helicopter on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, a day after it crashed in Agusan del Sur province, southern Philippines while on a humanitarian and disaster response mission due to Typhoon Kalmaegi. (Philippine Air Force via AP)

In this photo provided by the Philippine Air Force, Philippine Air Force personnel retrieve the remains of the pilots and crew of the Super Huey helicopter on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, a day after it crashed in Agusan del Sur province, southern Philippines while on a humanitarian and disaster response mission due to Typhoon Kalmaegi. (Philippine Air Force via AP)

Residents walk along debris along a shoreline after Typhoon Kalmaegi caused devastation in communities at Talisay City, Cebu province, central Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

Residents clean up outside their homes after Typhoon Kalmaegi caused devastation in communities at Talisay City, Cebu province, central Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

Residents try to salvage personal belongings as they return to their damaged homes after Typhoon Kalmaegi caused devastation in communities along the Mananga River in Talisay City, Cebu province, central Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

Men look at damaged homes after Typhoon Kalmaegi caused devastation in communities along the Mananga River in Talisay City, Cebu province, central Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

Residents of Isla Verde stand beside a sign which they made to call for help as they return to their damaged homes after Typhoon Kalmaegi caused devastation in communities along the Mananga River in Talisay City, Cebu province, central Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

Residents return to what remains of their homes after Typhoon Kalmaegi caused devastation in communities along the Mananga River in Talisay City, Cebu province, central Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

A resident returns to what remains of their home after Typhoon Kalmaegi devastated communities along the Mananga River in Talisay City, Cebu province, central Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

Cars are piled on top of each other after flooding caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi in Cebu city, central Philippines, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Rescue workers prepare to carry away a dead body after flooding caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi in Cebu city, central Philippines, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

People walk carrying dogs after flooding caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi in Cebu city, central Philippines, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

Rescue workers carry an injured resident as Typhoon Kalmaegi affects Cebu city, central Philippines on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is attending the dignified transfer Wednesday of four U.S. service members killed in the Middle East.

Trump will be at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware when the remains of the troops killed in action are returned to their families, the White House said. The ritual is one of the most somber duties of a commander-in-chief. It will be the third that Trump has attended since he launched the war in Iran in February.

Speaking to reporters on his way to Dover, Trump called it “one of the hardest things to do as a president.” His message to grieving families, he said, will simply be “we love you, we love your child.”

“There’s no games, there’s no nothing — that’s their child,” Trump said. “And all you can do is throw out your heart.”

Two U.S. Army soldiers killed in Iranian missile and drone attacks in Jordan will be returned during the dignified transfer, according to an administration official who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The remains of a third service member who is believed to be the soldier missing after the Jordan attacks will also be returned, the official said, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in Iraq during a detonation of an Iranian drone.

The soldiers killed in Jordan were identified by the Defense Department as Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. The soldier who disappeared after the Jordan attacks and is now believed to be deceased is Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, the Defense Department said.

The soldier killed in Iraq was identified as Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, who lived in Spring Lake, North Carolina.

“We feel very badly, but you know, those great people, those great patriots were out there fighting so that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. He added that the U.S. was striking Iran “in honor” of the fallen troops.

The U.S. has launched multiple retaliatory strikes against Iran as an interim agreement to end the war falls apart. Trump on Monday said that every time Iran kills an American soldier, “they will pay for that killing many times over!”

Since the war began on Feb. 28, 18 U.S. service members have been killed.

Trump on Tuesday said that while almost all the incoming fire in Jordan was stopped, some made it through.

“They did slip something through in Jordan,” he said. “If we had other operators, you know, it would have not happened, unfortunately.”

He went on: “We’ve stopped almost everything, but when you let other people do your job with the United States — we let other people do the job — and sometimes it doesn’t work out so well.”

Trump did not elaborate on his comments, and it was not immediately clear who he was saying was responsible for protecting U.S. forces in Jordan.

Trump attended two previous dignified transfers since the outset of the war, most recently in March.

During the ritual, transfer cases draped with the American flag and holding the remains of the fallen soldiers are carried from the military aircraft that transported them to an awaiting vehicle to take them to the mortuary facility at the base. There, the service members are prepared for their final resting place.

Feehan, a first lieutenant who was killed Saturday, will be posthumously promoted to the rank of captain and awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge. He was assigned out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command.

Gonzales, who was killed Friday, was a private with the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany. She graduated last year from Hebron High School in Carrollton, near Dallas, school officials said.

Rampersad, a sergeant who was believed to have been killed in Friday's attacks, was assigned to the 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany.

Swinton, a sergeant who was killed Sunday, will receive a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, and will be promoted to staff sergeant. He enlisted in the Army in 2017 and was assigned to the 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command shows 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan. (U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command via AP)

This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. (U.S. Army via AP)

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, shows Army Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton. (U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command via AP)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun listens as he meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)