Tropical storm battering Philippines leaves at least 24 people dead in flooding and landslides

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Widespread flooding and landslides set off by a tropical storm in the northeastern Philippines on Thursday left at least 24 people dead, swept away cars and prompted authorities to scramble for motorboats to rescue trapped villagers, some on roofs.

The government shut down schools and offices — except those urgently needed for disaster response — for the second day on the entire main island of Luzon to protect millions of people after Tropical Storm Trami slammed into the country’s northeastern province of Isabela after midnight.

The storm was blowing over Aguinaldo town in the mountain province of Ifugao after dawn with sustained winds up to 95 kph (59 mph) and gusts up to 160 kph (99 mph). It was blowing westward and was forecast to enter the South China Sea later on Thursday, according to state forecasters.

At least 24 people died, mostly due to drowning in the hard-hit Bicol region and nearby Quezon province but the toll was expected to rise as towns and villages isolated by flooding and roads blocked by landslides and toppled trees manage to send out reports, police and provincial officials said.

Most of the storm deaths were reported in the six-province Bicol region, southeast of Manila, where at least 20 people died, including 7 residents in Naga city, which was inundated by flash floods as Trami was approaching Tuesday, dumping more than two months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours at high tide, regional police chief Brig. Gen. Andre Dizon and other officials said.

While thousands of villagers, who were trapped in floodwaters, have been rescued by government forces, many more needed to be saved Thursday in the Bicol region, including some on roofs. About 1,500 police officers have been deployed for disaster-mitigation work, Dizon said.

“We can’t rescue them all at once because there are so many and we need additional motorboats," Dizon told The Associated Press by telephone. “We’re looking for ways to deliver food and water to those who were trapped but could not be evacuated right away.”

Flash floods swept away and submerged cars in some parts of Naga city while mudflows from Mayon, one of the country’s 24 active volcanoes, in nearby Albay province, engulfed several vehicles, Dizon said.

Stormy weather remained in the region, hampering relief efforts, officials said.

The government’s disaster-mitigation agency said more than 2 million people were affected by the storm, including 75,400 villagers who were displaced from their homes and are sheltering on safer ground.

About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones in the world, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and flattened entire villages.

A man walks past damages caused by flash floods on Thursday Oct. 24, 2024 after Tropical Storm Trami, locally named Kristine, dumped heavy rains at Libon town, Albay province, Philippines. (AP Photo/John Michael Magdasoc)

A man crosses flooded rice fields on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 after Tropical Storm Trami, locally named Kristine, dumped heavy rains at Libon town, Albay province, Philippines. (AP Photo/John Michael Magdasoc)

A man walks past damages caused by flash floods on Thursday Oct. 24, 2024 after Tropical Storm Trami, locally named Kristine, dumped heavy rains at Libon town, Albay province, Philippines. (AP Photo/John Michael Magdasoc)

A man crosses a flooded rice field during rains on Thursday Oct. 24, 2024 after Tropical Storm Trami, locally named Kristine, dumped heavy rains at Libon town, Albay province, Philippines. (AP Photo/John Michael Magdasoc)

Residents are ferried on a rubber boat after being rescued from their roofs where they stayed to avoid high floods caused by Tropical Storm Trami hit Libon town, Albay province, Philippines on Wednesday Oct. 23, 2024. (Michelle Ricasio via AP)

Residents are ferried on a rubber boat after being rescued from their roofs where they stayed to avoid high floods caused by Tropical Storm Trami hit Libon town, Albay province, Philippines on Wednesday Oct. 23, 2024. (Michelle Ricasio via AP)

Residents are ferried on a rubber boat after being rescued from their roofs where they stayed to avoid high floods caused by Tropical Storm Trami hit Libon town, Albay province, Philippines on Wednesday Oct. 23, 2024. (Michelle Ricasio via AP)

In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, residents staying on top of their roofs to avoid floods caused by Tropical Storm Trami, locally named Kristine, await to be rescued at Libon, Albay province, Philippines on Wednesday Oct. 23, 2024. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a resident carries a baby as they are rescued from their roofs where they were staying to avoid floods caused by Tropical Storm Trami, locally named Kristine, at Libon, Albay province, Philippines on Wednesday Oct. 23, 2024. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

A resident walks beside a truck buried by volcanic mud that flowed down from Mayon volcano after heavy rains caused by Tropical Storm Trami hit Guinobatan town, Albay province, Philippines on Wednesday Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/John Michael Magdasoc)

In this handout photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, rescuers carry residents trapped in their home after floods caused by Tropical Storm Trami, locally named Kristine, hit their village at Libon, Albay province, Philippines on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

In this handout photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, rescuers carry a resident trapped in their homes after floods caused by Tropical Storm Trami, locally named Kristine, hit their village at Libon, Albay province, Philippines on Wednesday Oct. 23, 2024. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell Wednesday as more steam came out of Wall Street’s huge, record-breaking rally.

The S&P 500 sank 0.9% for its first three-day losing streak since early September. It was coming off two small losses since setting an all-time high on Friday, and the pullback follows a superb run where the index had rallied to six straight winning weeks, its longest such streak of the year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 409 points, or 1%, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 1.6% after Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks were among the market’s heaviest weights.

Momentum has reversed for stocks this week as pressure has increased from rising Treasury yields. Higher yields can make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks, which critics say already look too expensive after they rose faster than corporate profits.

“Slowly, then suddenly,” stock investors have been noticing the moves in the bond market, along with the rally for the U.S. dollar’s value against other currencies, according to Jonathan Krinsky at BTIG.

McDonald’s helped pull the market lower and dropped 5.1% after federal health officials linked its Quarter Pounder burgers with an E. coli outbreak that’s affected at least 49 people in 10 states. Investigators are still trying to find what specific ingredient is contaminated, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said McDonald’s stopped using fresh slivered onions and quarter pound beef patties in several states while the investigation is ongoing.

Coca-Cola fell 2.1% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company benefited from higher prices for its products, but a lot of focus was on how much product the company shipped during the quarter, and that fell short of some estimates.

Boeing slipped 1.8% in what could be one of the most consequential days in years for the troubled aerospace manufacturer.

The company reported a loss of more than $6 billion for the latest quarter. Later Wednesday, Boeing factory workers voted 64% against Boeing’s latest contract offer, opting to continue a six-week strike that has halted production of the aerospace giant’s bestselling jetliners. Boeing stock has lost nearly 40% this year.

The market’s most impactful losses came from Big Tech stocks. They have been battling criticism for a while that their prices soared too high amid Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Nvidia’s 2.8% drop and Apple’s 2.2% fall were the two heaviest weights on the S&P 500.

Helping to limit the losses for indexes was AT&T, which rose 4.6% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected

Texas Instruments climbed 4% after the semiconductor company reported stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected. While revenue from industrial users declined from the prior quarter, CEO Haviv Ilan said all other end markets grew.

Northern Trust rallied 7% after likewise topping analysts’ estimates for profit and revenue in the latest quarter.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 53.78 points to 5,797.42. The Dow dropped 409.94 to 42,514.95, and the Nasdaq composite fell 296.47 to 18,276.65.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose again to 4.23% from 4.21% late Tuesday and from just 4.08% Friday.

Treasury yields have been climbing after a raft of reports have shown the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected. That’s good news for Wall Street, because it bolsters hopes that the economy can escape from the worst inflation in generations without the painful recession that many had worried was inevitable.

Traders are now largely expecting the Fed to cut its main interest rate by half a percentage point more through the end of the year, according to data from CME Group. A month ago, some of those same traders were betting on the federal funds rate ending the year as much as half a percentage point lower than that.

In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.8% despite a surge for Tokyo Metro Co.’s stock in Japan’s largest market debut since SoftBank Corp. went public in 2018.

Chinese markets rose for a second day after the central bank cut its one-year and five-year Loan Prime Rates on Monday. Indexes rose 1.3% in Hong Kong and 0.5% in Shanghai, while European markets were modestly lower.

AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.

A train arrives at the Wall Street subway station in New York's Financial District on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

A banner for LATAM Airlines hangs from the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

A banner for LATAM Airlines hangs from the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

A currency trader works near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)