When sea and floods looked like one body of water

A man and his companion push an outrigger loaded with their belongings in a flooded street as flood waters continue to rise due to rains and high tide Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 in Navotas City, north of Manila, Philippines. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The sea and the floods looked like one continuous body of water a day after endless rains poured into Metro Manila.

Executive Director Benito Ramos of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) described the sight after an aerial reconnaissance of flooded areas in Metro Manila Wednesday morning.

“Hindi ko na malaman kung alin ang dagat at alin ang baha (I can’t distinguish which was is the sea and which one is the flood),” Ramos said while being interviewed over the radio.

They went over parts of Bulacan, Pampanga, Malabon, Navotas, Marikina, and other flooded areas in the National Capital Region (NCR).

He was with Department of National Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in the aerial survey.

Up to 90 municipalities and cities in the Ilocos, Central Luzon, Mimaropa, Cordillera Administrative Region, and NCR were flooded, NDRRMC said in its latest report. More than 1.2 million people have been affected so far, it said.