The Philippines is prone to extreme weather. But few expected Tropical Storm Trami to be this devastating

CNN —

Water was already up to his knees, but 22-year-old Kierwen Garlan’s first thought was how to help his neighbors, as their homes were filling with floodwater and being lashed by heavy rain.

Tropical Storm Trami, known locally as Kristine, swept across the northeastern Philippines last week, inundating entire towns with severe flooding and triggering deadly landslides in what was the deadliest and most destructive storm to hit the archipelago so far this year.

The Philippines is struck by multiple typhoons a year and Trami was not an especially strong storm when it made landfall, at least in terms of windspeed. But it was the intense downpours that brought destruction.

Nearly 130 people have been killed and at least 30 are missing, the country’s disaster relief agency said, as authorities race to deliver relief to remote communities, particularly those in the hardest hit Bicol region, ahead of another powerful storm that could soon lash the region again.

“Of course, we were scared, but luckily my family’s house is on higher ground,” Garlan, a resident of Sorsogon province, told CNN.

Raging floodwaters covered the rooftops of several homes in the district of Bulan, Sorsogon – over 575 kilometers southeast of the capital Manila.

“There were heavy rains and strong winds that came so suddenly,” Garlan said. “And our town normally doesn’t get flooded.”

As soon as the rains started to weaken, Garland and about 15 volunteers teamed up with local rescue authorities to clear up roads and arrange for the delivery of aid.

“We’re worried we won’t get to people in time. There are already children getting colds and coughs, maybe some are also contracting leptospirosis (a bacterial disease),” he said.

Bulan, a town of