(UPDATE 5) ‘Ondoy toll’ now 73
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/27/2009 2:37 AM
Send to friendState of calamity in 27 provinces, NCR
Aerial view of a flooded portion of Marcos Highway in Marikina City, September 27, 2009. ABS-CBN News/Jeff Canoy
MANILA – The death toll from the onslaught of tropical storm Ondoy (international code name Ketsana) rose to 73 as of Sunday evening, reports from the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said, as the number of affected people rise to more than 300,000.
In the latest report on the effects of Ondoy, the NDCC said the number of people dead rose to 73. At least 23 were still reported missing.
The NDCC also said that 5,146 people have been rescued in areas hit by the storm that has affected 337,216 persons.
Over 60,000 people were already evacuated to at least 118 centers.
In its 12 noon report, the NDCC said that seven people died in the NCR, one from the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), and 44 from Region IV-A, the NDCC report stated.
Rizal province reported the most number of casualties, with 23 dead reported in Tanay, 10 in Angono, 5 in Baras, 3 in Montalban, and one in Teresa.
In Metro Manila, the 7 dead were from Muntinlupa (3), Quezon City (2), and Marikina City and San Juan (1 each).
Calaca town in Batangas, Calauag town in Quezon, and Kabugao town in Apayao, meanwhile, reported one dead each.
Meanwhile, 23 people are reported missing, and 4 have been reported injured.
A separate report meanwhile from ABS-CBN Pampanga said that 12 people were found dead by rescuers in a landslide in Arayat town in Pampanga province while 8 others were reported missing.
The NDCC said 294,555 people are affected by the storm in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga, batangas, Laguna, Rizal, and Camarines Sur, or a total of 59,241 families. The partial total of evacuees has reached 9,601 families, or 47,261 people, located in 101 evacuation centers.
State of National Calamity
A state of national calamity has been declared over 27 provinces in 7 regions, as well as in the NCR.
The provinces included are Mountain Province, Ifugao, and Benguet (CAR); Pangasinan, La Union, and Ilocos Sur (Region I); Isabela, Quirino, and Nueva Vizcaya (Region II); Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, and Bataan (Region III); Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon (Region IV-A); Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental, and Marinduque (Region IV-B); and Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, and Camarines Sur (Region V).
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro has issued an NDCC Circular to chairpersons of Regional Disaster Coordinating Councils in Regions I, II, III, and CAR, directing them to “undertake necessary response measures” to avoid loss of lives and destruction of property.
Slideshow: Aftermath of tropical storm Ondoy |
For larger slideshow, click here |
‘One month’s worth of rain’
Ondoy, with winds of 85 kilometers per hour and gusts of 100 kph, hit the provinces of Aurora and Quezon at around 11 a.m. yesterday, then moved through Central Luzon at 19 kph, the state weather bureau said.
Government weather forecaster Gener Quitlong said the equivalent of one month’s worth of rain fell on Metro Manila in less than a day.
“We knew there would be rain but not like this,” Quitlong said.
About 34.1 centimeters of rain fell on Metro Manila in just six hours, close to the 39.2-centimeter average for the entire month of September.
The previous record was 33.4 centimeters recorded during a 24-hour period in June 1967, according to chief government weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz.
“However good your drainage system is, it will be overwhelmed by that amount of rainfall,” he said.
The deluge left some areas of the sprawling city of 12 million people under up to six metres (20 feet) of water, forcing the government to declare a “state of calamity” that allowed authorities to use emergency funds.
As of Sunday morning, the floods have subsided in many areas, but a number of areas, particularly in Marikina, Pasig, the Camanava area, and parts of Manila and Quezon City, are still under water.
As of 11 a.m., the tropical storm has moved on to the South China Sea.
Roads turn to raging rivers
Desperate residents were stranded on rooftops after the nine-hour deluge on Saturday turned Manila’s highways into raging rivers that swept away shanties and cars.
“This is the worst (flooding) that I have seen,” Teodoro said.
More than 4,000 people have been rescued, either plucked by army helicopters from their homes or by rubber boats but many remained stranded on Sunday afternoon.
“If you are on the roof, don’t try to leave. Just remain there and we will do everything to rescue you,” Teodoro said in a radio broadcast.
In suburban Pasig city however, panicked residents were seen wading dangerously through neck-deep waters hoisting their children and belongings above their heads.
Amid the chaos, hospitals in the eastern part of the city were evacuated, while telephone and power lines were cut, officials said.
Slideshow: Aftermath of Ondoy |
For larger slideshow, click here |
One of Manila’s three airport terminals was also closed on Saturday, affecting several flights and stranding hundreds of passengers.
‘Stay calm’
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, speaking on dzMM on Sunday morning, advised the public to stay calm and obey the instructions of local government executives and civil defense authorities.
“We shall manage our way out of this latest natural calamity. Let us band together and look out for each other in the finest Filipino tradition of caring and sharing,” she said.
On Saturday, Arroyo visited Marikina City, one of the badly-flooded areas in Metro Manila, where at least 1,000 people were reported trapped on rooftops.
In an interview with dzMM on Sunday at around 1:40 am, Marikina Mayor Maria Lourdes Fernando said they began the rescue operations at 10 am on Saturday, and by early Sunday, she said the number of people still on rooftops had already fallen to around 100.
Fernando said floods in the city were subsiding as she advised residents still on rooftops to stay put and wait for the rubber boats that have been sent to rescue those stranded.
’80% under water’
Teodoro said the floodwaters and the large numbers of stranded vehicles blocking roads were giving rescuers “a hard time” as they sought to reach those affected.
While the rains had temporarily ceased Sunday, he said more flooding may hit northern provinces if reservoirs burst their banks.
Philippine Red Cross chairwoman Gwendolyn Pang said rescuers were struggling to reach many areas, with many highways rendered impassable.
“This has never happened before. Almost 80 percent of metropolitan Manila is underwater,” Pang told AFP.
In the district of Marikina, one of the worst-hit areas, rescuers waded in muddy floodwaters to reach the stranded, Red Cross official Dave Barnuevo said.
“The water is taking a long time to go down. The water is muddy and thick, and we have had to push our rubber boats in neck-deep flood (waters) in some areas,” Barnuevo told AFP.
“We have rescued entire families marooned in their homes. They have not eaten and begged for food and water.” — With reports from the Agence France-Presse, The Philippine Star, dzMM, and ABS-CBN News
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