Philippines Hammered By Deadly Flooding
Aerial view of flooded areas in Marikina City
Army troops, police and civilian volunteers plucked dead bodies from muddy flood waters and rescued drenched survivors from rooftops after Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international code name Ketsana) tore through the northern Philippines on Saturday.
“”Ondoy” dumped much heavy rains, swamping entire towns, setting off landslides and leaving neighborhoods in the capital with destroyed houses, overturned vehicles and roads covered in mud and debris.
Survivors marooned atop buses, rooftops.
TV footage shot from a military helicopter showed drenched survivors still marooned on top of half-submerged passenger buses and rooftops in suburban Manila Sunday. Some dangerously clung to high-voltage power lines while others plodded through waist-high waters
Garbage-choked drains and waterways, along with high tide, compounded the flooding, officials said.
Authorities deployed rescue teams on boats to save survivors.
Governor Joselito Mendoza of Bulacan province, north of the capital, said it was tragic that “people drowned in their own houses” as the storm raged.
The government declared a “state of calamity” in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces, allowing officials to use emergency funds for relief and rescue. At 86 people were killed and 32 others missing, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said Mon
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo toured the devastated areas and prodded villagers to move on. She said the storm and the flooding were “an extreme event” that “strained our response capabilities to the limit but ultimately did not break us.”
Cruz said cloudy weather with some rains was expected to continue.
Ketsana, which packed winds of 53 miles per hour with gusts of up to 63 miles per hour, hit land early Saturday then roared across the main northern Luzon island toward the South China Sea.
With reports from ABS-CBN News Online
A native of Cavinti, Lucila C. Oblena spent all her working years as an educator, beginning as a classroom teacher in 1944, then a Guidance Counselor and retired as a school Principal. She is also the founder of CLOTA (Cavinti Laguna Overseas Teachers Association). She is the Editor of Tipakan.com (Cavinti Diaspora).
