LOS BAÑOS, LAGUNA, Philippines—Whatever hopes that residents of Pila, Laguna had that flooding in their town would soon ease disappeared when Tropical Storm “Santi” and two days of rains brought floodwater back to levels when Tropical Storm “Ondoy” struck.

Five of the town’s villages near Laguna Lake are now under chest and neck-deep flood while floodwater in other villages began to subside. But Santi and the rains won’t let that happen.

Houses that are at least a kilometer away from the lake are under water.

“We are expecting this until after Christmas,” said the town’s mayor, Wilfredo Quiat.

Strong winds brought by Santi also created storm surges that smashed into houses and destroyed those that were left standing by Ondoy.

Santi destroyed 259 houses and damaged 169 others in Pila, a fourth-class municipality that relies on farming and fishing.

Mayor Quiat said at least 30 percent of the town’s rice harvest had been destroyed while 200 hectares of farms are now pools of water.

The loss of livelihood is the town’s biggest problem, said the mayor.

Ester Habana, a 45-year-old rice farmer, has been relying on farming as her family’s only source of income for 21 years.

A tenant, she was to harvest rice by the end of September when Ondoy struck.

She normally harvests 200 cavans, but after Ondoy, the harvest came up to only 45 cavans, earning for her not more than P6,000 out of an P18,000 investment.

Serviliano Datoy, 58, fisherman, now survives on P80 to P100 per day fishing when the weather permits after Ondoy and Santi destroyed all his fish cages. Clarice Colting-Pulumbarit, Inquirer Southern Luzon