Storm toll rises to 22

MANILA, Dec 30: At least 22 people died from a storm that swept through the central Philippine islands at the weekend, authorities said on Sunday, with rescue operations under way in flood-inundated communities. The death toll rose from four a day after the storm brought heavy rain to the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions, causing massive flooding and landslides, the government's office of civil defence said. Many of the deaths were due to landslides and drowning, it added, saying floods had yet to recede even as the weather disturbance known locally as "Usman" weakened into a low pressure area.     -AFP