People aboard the rescue boat during the Army’s rescue efforts amid the massive flooding brought about by Super Typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon in Quezon City on July 25, 2024. | Photo from the Facebook page of the Philippine Army
MANILA, Philippines — A total of 34 people were reported dead due to heavy rains brought by Typhoon Carina and a southwest monsoon (habagat) that it enhanced, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson, Col. Jean Fajardo.
Twelve people died in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon), 11 in Metro Manila, and nine in Central Luzon, according to reports from their respective police regional offices.
Fajardo later confirmed this.
Also, Fajardo said there are two additional deaths in the Bicol Region.
Most of the deaths — 22 of them — are due to drowning: nine in Metro Manila, seven in Central Luzon, three in Calabarzon, and two in the Bicol Region. Six deaths were due to landslides — two in Central Luzon and four in Agoncillo, Batangas.
Five were electrocuted — two in Metro Manila and three in Calabarzon.
A 46-year-old man in Nasugbu, Batangas was killed due to a fallen tree.
In Calabarzon, six were injured and two remain missing; eight were injured in Metro Manila, while three were injured and two missing in Central Luzon. Metro Manila and its adjacent regions bore the brunt of the heavy rains due to Carina.
La Mesa Dam also overflowed, and the Marikina River reached critical levels due to incessant rains, exacerbating the flooding in Metro Manila.
Entire bungalows in some areas submerged with some even seeing floodwater reach the second floor of their houses.
Many main thoroughfares in Metro Manila seemed to become rivers as its drainage system was overwhelmed by heavy downpours.
Metro Manila and Batangas, Cavite, Bulacan, and Bataan were declared now under a state of calamity. This would allow local governments to tap their calamity funds and enable a price freeze to be enforced.