Landslide kills 2 in Olongapo City

OLONGAPO CITY—A woman and her daughter were killed while five others were injured on Tuesday when a boulder dislodged by a landslide fell on at least four houses in Barangay Sta. Rita here, a village official said.

Jerome Bacay, Sta. Rita village chair, said Ederlyn Macapal, 54, and her daughter, Manilyn, 12, died instantly when the boulder rolled down Mt. Balimpuyo and crushed their house at 9 a.m.

Bacay said the landslide was triggered by continuous rains here since Monday.

Mother and daughter were found a few meters from their house. Five other people were hurt and taken to the James L. Gordon Memorial Hospital here.

In the Cordillera, rains dumped by Typhoon “Mina” took its toll on roads, isolating some mountain communities.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported that damage to roads reached more than P28.6 million. Prices of vegetables continued to increase by 20 to 30 percent because Halsema Highway remained closed due to landslides. Crop losses in the region were pegged at P67.87 million.

OCD reports said 26 national roads had been opened to traffic and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) personnel were working to open 26 more roads.

The Baguio-Bontoc Road was still not passable on Tuesday, while work crews repaired stretches of road filled with mud, the DPWH said.

Still closed on Tuesday were the Abra Ilocos Norte Road, the Apayao-Ilocos Norte Road, the Claveria-Calanasan Road in Apayao, the Acop-Kapangan-Kibungan-Bakun Road in Benguet, the Mt. Province-Ilocos Sur Road, and the Mt. Province-Cagayan Road.

In a report, Olive Luces, OCD Cordillera director, said the typhoon left in its wake in the region 10 people dead, 12 hurt and five still missing.

In Baguio City, a stretch of Asin Road remained blocked by trash washed out by heavy rains from the city dump.

The city government started to clean up the road, and shipped 220 tons of garbage to a sanitary landfill in Urdaneta City, said Urdaneta City Mayor Amadeo Perez IV.

Perez said it was his city’s way of helping ease the situation in Baguio City, when Mayor Mauricio Domogan asked him for help on Monday.

The Baguio government will pay Urdaneta P2,500 per ton of garbage dumped in its landfill, which is in a 17-hectare city government property in Barangay Catablan in Urdaneta.

In Pangasinan, the Dagupan City government announced on Tuesday the suspension of classes in the elementary level here on Wednesday due to widespread flooding.

City administrator Vladimir Mata, in a local radio interview, said the decision was made after a meeting with local education officials. Classes and work in government and private offices are scheduled to resume on Wednesday (Aug. 31) after the holidays on Monday and Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, 12 of 31 villages in Dagupan remained under 1.5 to more than 3 meters deep water.

Malen Bernardo-Pilon, an assistant of Dagupan Mayor Benjamin Lim, said the city’s major streets remained passable to all types of vehicles but interior roads had been closed to traffic.

Pilon said high tide worsened the flooding in the city, with water from the Lingayen Gulf entering the city’s business district.

Flooded villages include Malued, Bacayao Norte, Bacayao Sur, Lasip Grande, Lasip Chico, Lucao, Pogo Grande, Herrero-Perez, Manguin, Salisay, Pantal and Mamalingling.

On Monday night, some families were evacuated from the villages of Malued, Manguin and Herrero-Perez due to rising floodwater from rivers crisscrossing the city.

Officials of the San Roque Power Corp. said the firm has not released any excess water from the San Roque Dam in San Manuel town. At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the dam’s water level was 270.62 meters above sea level (masl), which is more than 9 meters below its spilling level of 280 masl. Reports from Robert Gonzaga and Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Vincent Cabreza, Gabriel Cardinoza and Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon