Manila evacuates over 3,000 families

More than 3,000 families in the City of Manila have been evacuated from their houses as floodwaters continue to rise due to nonstop monsoon rains in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

As of 3:30 p.m. yesterday, Chief Insp. Erwin Margarejo, Manila Police District  spokesperson, said that 700 families had been taken to Antonio Villegas High School in Barrio Magsaysay, Tondo; 800 families to the covered court in Barangay 105 in Happyland, Tondo; 60 families to Gregorio del Pilar Elementary School in Jose Abad Santos near C. M. Recto; and 15 families to Bonifacio Elementary School.

On the other hand, 897 families were taking shelter at President Corazon Aquino High School in Baseco while 206 others were staying at a covered court in Baseco.

A total of 95 families were in two day care centers while 12 families were staying at Calderon High School. Fifty others were at Gregorio de Jesus School; 101 at Don Bosco Youth Center; 150 at the Baltao covered court and 30 at Pinoy Club. There were eight families staying at the Barangay  598 multi-purpose hall while 10 others were at the multipurpose hall of Barangay  833.

The city’s social welfare department has taken charge of feeding the evacuees in line with Mayor Alfredo Lim’s directive to give them three meals a day, according to the agency’s director, Jay de la Fuente.

At the same time, Lim ordered city health department chief Dr. Benjamin Yson and the directors of various hospitals to check on the evacuees’ condition from time to time to make sure that the evacuees do not develop illnesses which may spread among them.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s Flood Control and Information Center (FCIC)—a product of the destructive “Ondoy” floods in 2009—was put to test this week as torrential rains continued to batter the entire metropolis.

The FCIC which was inaugurated in August last year is considered the nerve center of the agency’s flood control and disaster-related operations and the source of crucial information needed to make policy decisions in times of crisis.

It is equipped with LCD monitors connected to closed circuit television cameras installed in key Metro Manila intersections, flood-prone areas and pumping stations.