THE USUAL FLOOD. As what happens during downpour, residents had to cross a flooded portion of Road 10 in Navotas City. LYN RILLON
Floods up to 2 meters deep swamped a town in Batangas and classes were suspended in Metro Manila and several provinces in Luzon on Thursday, as a low-pressure area intensified into Tropical Depression “Dodong.”
A 10-year-old boy in Batangas City remained missing Thursday after he was swept away by floodwaters while trying to retrieve his slippers.
Relief officials also said that a family of six in Laguna province had a narrow escape when a landslide crushed their house minutes after they had abandoned it.
In Romblon, a 56-year-old woman drowned in San Agustin town, bringing to eight the number of people killed around the country in the past four days as a result of floods brought by incessant rains.
The death toll included seven people who drowned on Monday and Tuesday in central Mindanao in floods triggered by heavy rains.
The Department of Education (DepEd) suspended classes in public and private schools in Metro Manila at all levels on Thursday, but an education official announced later in the day that classes would resume at all levels on Friday with the expected departure of Dodong.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) raised Storm Signal No. 1 over Metro Manila, Bataan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Pangasinan and Cavite.
At 5 p.m., Pagasa lifted the storm signal over Cavite and Metro Manila but said Signal No. 1 was still up over Bataan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales and Pangasinan.
By that time, Dodong had been sighted 150 kilometers west of Dagupan City in Pangasinan and moving north northwest with an increased speed of 19 km per hour. It had maximum sustained winds of 55 kph near the center.
The storm was expected to be 460 km west of Basco, Batanes, by Friday afternoon.
Pagasa warning
Pagasa said Dodong was expected to enhance the southwest monsoon and bring rains over the western sections of Central Luzon. It could bring 15 to 20 millimeters of rainfall per hour, it said.
Pagasa warned residents in low-lying areas under Signal No. 1 against possible flash floods and landslides.
Chief forecaster Robert Sawi said Dodong was expected to leave the Philippine area of responsibility late Friday or early Saturday and exit toward Hong Kong.
“There is a possibility that it will strengthen, but it is a slim possibility,” he told reporters.
La Niña over
Acting Pagasa Administrator Nathaniel Servando also announced that the La Niña weather phenomenon, which in the Philippines means more rains, was over.
La Niña refers to the abnormal cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.
Servando said that near normal rainfall could now be expected in most parts of the country in June but that “two to three tropical cyclones” were also expected to affect the country this month.
Lost slippers
In Batangas, police said the 10-year-old boy, a Grade 5 pupil at Sampaga Elementary School, was walking home via the spillway after school when he lost his slippers. He was carried away by the floodwater while trying to recover the slippers.
A total of 318 families were evacuated from 12 flooded villages in Batangas City and Bauan town.
In some parts of Bauan, the floodwater went as high as 2 meters, provincial information officer Ginette Segismundo said by phone.
In San Pablo City in Laguna, a landslide buried a house that was undergoing repairs.
Arvin Carandang of the Philippine National Red Cross said a couple and their four children were lucky as they were able to leave the house minutes before it was smashed by the landslide.
Power blackouts
Carandang said widespread power outages hit San Pablo as a result of the heavy rains that had been falling since Wednesday. Power interruptions also occurred in Calamba City.
Classes in some private and public schools in San Pablo were canceled.
In Sariaya, Quezon, a barge carrying soya beans smashed into a wharf, injuring its four crew members.
In Tagaytay City, the city government suspended classes at all levels in all public schools.
Central Luzon
In Central Luzon, classes were suspended in several towns and cities in Bulacan, Bataan, Zambales and Pampanga.
Strong winds knocked down an electric post and a tree in Balanga City, while in Aurora, rains triggered a landslide in the capital Baler.
In both incidents, government work crews were able to immediately clear the roads.
In Bulacan, school officials canceled classes in Malolos and in the towns of Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulakan, San Ildefonso, Calumpit and Obando.
Halsema Highway, the road used by vegetable dealers in Benguet and Mt. Province to deliver produce to Metro Manila every day, remains passable.
Metro classes
In Metro Manila, classes were suspended at all levels in public and private schools for the safety of the students, said Assistant Education Secretary Tonisito Umali.
Later in the day, the DepEd’s National Capital Region director, Elena Ruiz, announced that with the expected departure of Dodong, classes would resume today (Friday) at all levels in public and private schools in Metro Manila.
According to a list released by the DepEd, the order suspending classes also covered parts of Central Luzon, specifically Limay and Balanga in Bataan; Angeles City in Pampanga; and Obando and Doña Remedios Trinidad in Bulacan.
In the Calabarzon region, classes were suspended in Batangas City, Calaca, Taal, Bauan and Lemery in Batangas; Kawit and Rosario, six schools in Bacoor and Sangley Elementary School, all in Cavite; Antipolo City; San Pablo City; Alaminos and Caparitan Elementary School in Bay, Laguna; and San Mateo, Rizal.
Tagaytay City, Noveleta and GMA in Cavite also called off classes.
In the Mimaropa region, classes at all levels were suspended in Lubang, Occidental Mindoro.
In other areas, the decision to suspend classes depended on the regional directors and local government officials, Umali said.
At the college and university levels, the Commission on Higher Education left the decision to suspend classes to the school officials.
Hating the rain
The rains brought flooding and slowed traffic in some parts of northern and eastern Metro Manila.
Some streets in Malabon City were impassable to light vehicles after floodwaters rose to almost-knee-deep levels.
“This is one of the reasons why I hate the rain,” commuter Camille Raguni, who was on her way to visit her grandmother, told the Inquirer as her sister struggled to carry three grocery bags.
Officials said the water levels in Marikina River were still within the normal range despite the rains.
The Marikina Flood Monitoring Office said the water levels, as of noon, had reached 13.3 meters. This was below the critical level of 15 meters.
The Metro Manila Development Authority’s assistant manager for operations, Emerson Carlos, said no major problems had been reported in connection with the bad weather.
But Carlos said flood control teams needed to do unclogging operations along España Street in Sampaloc early Thursday morning.
Flights canceled
Fourteen domestic flights going to and from Manila were canceled, according to the Manila International Airport Authority.
They involved flights of Seair, Air Philippines and Cebu Pacific.
Nineteen international and domestic flights were slightly delayed. The involved carriers—Air Philippines, Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines and Zest Air—resumed the flights later as the skies cleared. With reports from DJ Yap, Kristine Felisse Mangunay, Maricris Irene V. Tamolang and Julie M. Aurelio in Manila; Marrah Erika Lesaba, Romulo Ponte and Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Tonette Orejas, Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Greg Refraccion and Robert Gonzaga, Inquirer Central Luzon; and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon