1,500 vehicles stuck on flooded Maharlika Highway in Quezon province

Vehicles and motorists are left stranded along a kilometer stretch of the Maharlika Highway in Lopez, Quezon province after the highway was flooded by heavy rains spawned by tropical depression “Pepito” compounded by seawater surge induced by high tide. PHOTO FROM THE LOPEZ MUNICIPAL POLICE FACEBOOK PAGE

LUCENA CITY –– About 1,500 vehicles have been stranded along the flooded Maharlika Highway in Lopez town of Quezon province since early Wednesday after Tropical Depression “Pepito” poured heavy rains and seawater flooded the road.

“We’re afraid that they will be stranded for two to three days hoping there will be no more strong rains,” Francisco Verba, head of the local disaster risk reduction management office, said in a phone interview around noon Wednesday.

He said the more than four feet floodwater along the close to a one-kilometer section of the highway in Barangay Canda Ibaba started to swell around 5 a.m.

Verba said the flashflood was caused by a combination of torrential rains and high tide from the Pacific Ocean.

“The nearby Pandanan River overflowed due to heavy rains and rushing seawater,” he said.

The river is located in neighboring Calauag town. Canda Ibaba is the last village of Lopez along the boundary of Calauag.

“The water recedes slowly even with low tide,” Verba explained.

Quezon Provincial Board Member Isaias Ubana II, a former mayor of Lopez, said the local government is organizing assistance for the trapped motorists.

“During this calamitous period, the local government and our people are ready to help strangers in distress,” he said in a separate phone interview.

The local government and generous donors provided food packs and bottled water to some 4,700 stranded motorists.

“Residents also cooked food and provided accommodation to the stranded. All are helping the stranded,” Verba said.

Verba said the stranded vehicles were mostly private-owned.

“The line of stalled vehicles will be much longer if public buses are allowed to operate,” he explained.

Verba recalled that another flood that stalled traffic in the area for several days happened during storm “Rosing” in 1995.

ZB