Carina kills 13 in PH as it worsens monsoon rains on its way to Taiwan
Typhoon Carina worsened monsoon rains that flooded many streets in Metro Manila on Wednesday, July 24, 202 —Photo by Joeal Calupitan | Associated Press
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METRO MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon Carina, internationally known as Gaemi, did not make landfall here in the Philippines but enhanced its seasonal monsoon rains that set off at least a dozen landslides and floods over five days.
As it headed for Taiwan on Wednesday, at least 12 people had been killed and 600,000 more displaced, including 35,000 who went to emergency shelters, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Metro Manila — also known as the National Capital Region — was placed under a state of calamity in the afternoon.
A landslide buried a rural shanty Tuesday in the mountainside town of Agoncillo in Batangas province, and the bodies of a pregnant woman and three children, aged 9 to 15, were dug out Wednesday morning. A rice porridge vendor was hit by a falling tree in another Batangas town Tuesday night, raising the toll in the country to 13 dead.
READ: LIVE UPDATES: Typhoon Carina
In densely populated Metro Manila, government work and school classes were suspended after nonstop rains flooded many areas overnight, trapping cars in rising floodwater and stranding people in their homes. Residents who ventured out of their homes waded into knee- and chest-high floodwaters with some using improvised dinghies and paddling their way alongside cars, trucks, and SUVs.
In Marikina City, the continuing downpour swelled a major river, prompting many residents to flee to safety. The strong currents swept away a steel cargo container, refrigerators, pieces of home furniture, and tree trunks, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene.
Some residents called radio stations and asked to be rescued by authorities from rooftops or upper floors of their low-slung houses amid rising floodwaters.
Mayor Jeannie Sandoval of Malabon, a flood-prone city in the northern section of the capital region, assured one alarmed mother that rescue boats and trucks have been scrambling all day to help trapped residents like her.
“Stay calm. We’re doing everything we can. The local government won’t leave you behind,” Sandoval told the DZRH radio network.
Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said the Philippine Coast Guard, where he serves as a spokesperson, has been overwhelmed with pleas from floodwater-trapped residents in the capital to be rescued, including those who were waiting for help from rooftops.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered authorities to speed up efforts to deliver food and other aid to isolated rural villages. “People there may not have eaten for days,” Marcos said in a televised emergency meeting.
According to the Philippine Coast Guard, more than 350 passengers and cargo truck drivers and workers were stranded in seaports after ferries and cargo ships were prohibited from venturing into rough seas. It added that coast guard personnel helped more than 200 residents evacuate a coastal village in Batangas, where storm-tossed waves have hit coastal houses.
—Jim Gomez and Joeal Calupitan of the Associated Press
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