‘Amihan’ plays Grinch on Christmas
Bring your umbrellas if you are celebrating outdoors because it will be a rainy Christmas Day throughout the Philippines.
According to the weather bureau, it will be cloudy the whole day on Dec. 25 because of the diffused tail end of a cold front and the prevailing northeast monsoon, locally known as amihan.
That is the Grinch that’s trying to steal Christmas by causing light to moderate rains and thunderstorms in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Davao and Soccsargen regions as well as the provinces of Mindoro, Romblon and Marinduque, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
Cagayan Valley, Cordillera and Central Luzon can expect light rains while the Ilocos region will have isolated light rains on Thursday, the weather bureau said.
The rest of the country will have isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms, it said.
Pagasa also warned that seas throughout the archipelago will be moderate to rough on Thursday.
Cloudy weather will persist during the rest of the week with the approach of a low-pressure area that may enter the Philippine area of responsibility on Saturday, Pagasa said.
Swollen rivers
It has been raining since early Wednesday, causing the intersecting Bumbungan and Balanac rivers in Pagsanjan town, Laguna province, to swell, forcing the evacuation of 50 families living on the banks of the waterways.
Floodwaters reached more than a meter, the highest this year, according to residents.
They said the Christmas Eve flooding was worse than the inundation during Typhoon “Glenda” (international name: Rammasun), which damaged houses in Pagsanjan in July, and Typhoon “Ruby” (Hagupit), which cut through the Southern Tagalog region after slamming into Eastern Visayas earlier this month.
“It took just a few hours. Those who were evacuated will have no Christmas,” Barangay Uno Councilman Freddie Dueñas said, referring to his neighbors in the riverside community on Pedro Caballes Street who were moved to the town hall.
“They were able to get their belongings to higher ground, but their houses are underwater,” he said.
The barangay chair, Ricardo Fabian, estimated that up to 50 houses—those closest to the riverbank—were submerged after hours of rain swelled the rivers, whose waters had yet to recede since Ruby.
The flood began to subside around noon, when the rain stopped.
The river in Lumban town also swelled, forcing residents of Barangay Wawa to flee their homes, said Rommel Palacol, chief of the Laguna disaster council.
Landslide
A landslide occurred in Majayjay town, blocking parts of Dalatian road, he said.
Incessant rain swelled the river in Pangil town, with the water level rising by 2 meters, according to resident Dennis Madrasto.
Palacol said the disaster council had received reports of ankle-deep to knee-deep flooding on the highways in Calamba City and the towns of Los Baños, Bay and Sta. Cruz.
“We’re ready in case residents would need to be moved to evacuation centers tonight,” Palacol said.
As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, 126 families from the villages of Bambang, Lalakay and Batong Malake, all in Los Baños town, had been evacuated to school and government buildings.
The rains raised the water level in Laguna Lake by 0.15 meters on Wednesday from 11.8 m on Tuesday. It reached 11.95 m by noon Wednesday, which, according to Emil Hernandez, resident engineer of the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), was “within normal lake water level.”
Floods start at dawn
In Oriental Mindoro, floods hit several areas of Calapan City and the towns of Naujan and Baco. About 2,000 residents of Baco were evacuated to safer grounds.
“The flooding started during the Misa de Gallo (dawn Mass) at 4 a.m. due to continuous rains. Some villages are isolated, with floodwaters as high as chest-level,” Baco Mayor Rey Marco said.
“Baco traditionally gets flooded. We are a catch basin of Mount Halcon. When it stops raining, the floods will subside, as usual,” Marco said.
The flooded areas included the villages of Mayabig, Sta. Cruz, Mamangan 1 and 2 and Dulangan 1.
Baco, 12 kilometers from Calapan City, has 27 barangays.
In Calapan City, floodwaters reached neck-level on a 30-m stretch of the Panggalaan Highway, according to Eugene Cabrera, director of the regional disaster council in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan). He said the flood was caused by the swollen Bucayao River.
The flooding, however, began to subside at 1 p.m.
Stranded travelers
The rains early on Christmas Eve also flooded several areas in Southern Luzon and bad weather left more than 2,000 holiday travelers stranded at the Port of Matnog in Sorsogon province.
Senior Insp. Malu Calubaquib, spokesperson for the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the Bicol region, said 2,560 travelers crossing to Eastern Visayas from Southern Luzon were stranded in Matnog.
PO1 Noli Cerbito of the Matnog Municipal Police Station said the sea turned rough on Tuesday, delaying ferry departures for Allen town in Northern Samar province.
But it is not unusual for travelers to spend Christmas Eve at the port, he said, as the weather is always bad in Southern Luzon this time of the year.
Also stranded at the port were 20 buses, 480 trucks and 30 cars, all bound for Eastern Visayas, Calubaquib said.
Angat Dam full
In Central Luzon, rain on Christmas Eve raised the water in Angat Dam in Bulacan province beyond the spilling level of 212 m above sea level (masl), but the operators said they would not release water just yet.
Rain in recent days helped the dam recover enough water to supply Metro Manila. The operators began watching the reservoir when the water level reached 213.04 masl on Wednesday, said Rodolfo German, general manager of the Angat Hydroelectric Power Plant (Ahepp).
Ahepp is jointly owned and managed by San Miguel Corp. and Korean Water Co. Inc.
German said there was no immediate need of discharging water because the dam could contain as much as 217.04 masl without damaging the reservoir.
He said Ahepp needed to maintain the dam at full capacity in preparation for a long dry spell expected in the first quarter of 2015. With reports from Tarra Quismundo in Manila; Shienna M. Barrameda, Maricar Cinco and Madonna Virola, Inquirer Southern Luzon, and Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon
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