The Baybay City government said in a report that 101 bodies have been retrieved so far from the landslides in several villages in the city. Police had recovered 31 bodies in Abuyog town in Leyte province, one in Samar province, and two in Cebu province.

MANILA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from tropical storm Megi that battered the Philippines last weekend rose to 138, the authorities said Thursday.

Central and southern parts of the Philippines were hit by flooding and massive landslides, with the central Leyte province being the worst affected with 132 deaths.

The Baybay City government said in a report that 101 bodies have been retrieved so far from the landslides in several villages in the city. Police said 31 bodies were recovered in Abuyog town in Leyte province, one in Samar province, and two in Cebu province.

The Philippine military said 159 areas in the provinces of Capiz, Aklan, Antique, and Iloilo in central Philippines were inundated as of Wednesday even as Magi dissipated.

Megi, which hit land last Sunday, is the first tropical storm this year to hit the Southeast Asian country. The Philippines archipelago which lies on the Pacific typhoon belt is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms every year as one of the world's most disaster-prone countries.

Members of the Philippine Coast Guard rescue residents from the flood in a town in Capiz Province, the Philippines, on April 12, 2022. (Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)