Tropical Storm Penha has left at least eight people dead, displaced more than 28,000 residents and trapped people in flooded villages as it swept across the southern Philippines, according to officials.

The storm slammed ashore on Surigao del Sur from the Pacific late Thursday and set off flooding and a landslide that damaged communities across the south. By Friday, it had weakened into a tropical depression and was last tracked off Cebu with sustained winds of up to 55 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 75 kph, the country’s weather agency said.

The death toll included a couple and two children who died when a landslide hit their shanty in a quarry area in southern Cagayan de Oro city, Office of Civil Defense regional director Antonio Sugarol said. Three others drowned in floodwaters in southern Iligan city, and another villager drowned in Agusan del Norte province, the Office of Civil Defense said.

The AP report also described an urgent rescue scene in Iligan, where a resident called a radio station and pleaded for help from the second floor of a flooded house as water rose around several families. Sugarol said rescuers were on the way and that other families were being evacuated from the villages of Mahayahay and Tubod.

More than 28,000 villagers were displaced, with most moving to emergency shelters in southern and central provinces. Classes were suspended in many areas, and the Philippine Coast Guard said more than 7,400 passengers and cargo workers were stranded in 78 seaports after ferries and cargo ships were stopped from venturing into rough seas.

The storm was locally named Basyang and had a rain and wind band about 660 kilometers wide, according to the report. Government forecaster Robert Badrina said it had arrived ahead of the summer period when the fewest storms normally affect the Philippine archipelago.

The AP report says Penha was expected to keep weakening as it moved northwest across central island provinces. That forecast matters because it suggests the storm’s immediate danger may lessen, even as flooding, displaced families and transport disruption continue to spread.

The Philippines is no stranger to weather disasters. The AP report notes the country is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms each year and is also exposed to earthquakes and volcanic activity. Penha’s impact follows that broader pattern of repeated hazard, where a single storm can quickly become a humanitarian and logistics crisis.

The mix of fatalities, displacement and stranded travelers shows how quickly a tropical system can overwhelm local response capacity. Even as the storm weakened, the consequences remained visible in evacuation centers, blocked ports and damaged neighborhoods.

For officials, the immediate challenge is no longer just tracking the storm’s path. It is accounting for the displaced, reaching people trapped by floodwater and landslides, and restoring transport links across an island chain that remains highly exposed to extreme weather.