Floods ebb in Central Luzon but rise in lake towns

Amid brief bursts of rainfall, floodwaters on Wednesday started to subside, albeit slowly, in most areas in Central Luzon but kept on rising in towns surrounding Laguna de Bay south of Metro Manila.

At least 15 deaths have so far been reported since Tuesday when torrential rains struck Pampanga, Bataan, Zambales and Laguna. One person was missing in Laguna and another in Cavite.

Bulacan on Wednesday joined Pampanga, Bataan and Zambales, including Olongapo City, in declaring a state of calamity after the widespread flooding put 20 towns and three cities under 2 meters of water.

The number of flooded villages throughout the region reached 381 Wednesday, according to the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC).

A total of 3,426 families, or 14,432 people, have been brought to 60 evacuation centers, mostly school buildings. Classes remained suspended in Pampanga, Bataan and Bulacan provinces.

Bataan officials have moved 692 families away from low-lying villages. In Zambales province, evacuations took place in the towns of Iba, Botolan and San Narciso.

Relief operations continued in Laguna province as the number of affected families rose to 50,359 Wednesday, according to Governor Jeorge “ER” Ejercito.

He said 12 more evacuation centers were added to the current number of 140 to accommodate more families.

Flooded jail

In Sta. Cruz town, 174 inmates were transferred to the provincial police headquarters as flood hit the jail facility in Barangay (village) Bagumbayan.

Cavite Governor Juanito Victor Remulla said the 5,000 families who were evacuated to schools and village halls had returned to their homes and all roads were again passable.

“(But) we are still distributing relief (packages) to the households, especially those in the coastal towns,” Remulla said.

In Pampanga, two girls drowned while two more died from electrocution on Tuesday, according to the RDRRMC.

Strong current crisscrossing Barangay Sto. Tomas in Lubao town swept away Tracy Estrella, 11. In Barangay San Agustin in Candaba town, Stephanie Marquez, 3, drowned.

Electrocution, drowning

The RDRRMC identified the electrocution victims as Darel Flores, 9, of Barangay Apalit in Floridablanca town, and Jaygy Cunanan, 20, of Barangay Quebiawan in the City of San Fernando.

Superintendent Dennis Orbista, information officer of the Bataan police, said Marcelino Peñaflor of Dinalupihan town, died of a heart attack after floods damaged his house, while Juanito Mangila, 70, drowned in Barangay Torres, also in Dinalupihan.

The third fatality was Clarita Olarte of Barangay Bilolo in Orion town, although the circumstances leading to her death have yet to be determined.

In Olongapo City in Zambales, one death was reported, but officials have yet to provide details.

Three drowning victims in Laguna were identified as Alberto Madarang, of Calamba City; Ernesto Flores, of Alaminos town; and Edwin Ramos, of Pila town. Teodoro Flores, of San Pablo City, was hit by a falling coconut tree.

Swollen Laguna Lake

The Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) said the water level in Laguna de Bay rose to 13.6 meters above sea level (masl) at noon yesterday, from 13.2 on Tuesday. The lake’s normal water level during the rainy season is 12.5.

With the rainy months of September, October and November still to come, the flood could last for two months, said Emil Hernandez, LLDA hydrologist and enforcement division officer.

“That’s the problem with  Laguna Lake. It takes a while before the water rises but it also takes a long time before it recedes,” Hernandez said. “We expect it to continue rising in the coming days with the water coming from watersheds and lake tributaries, less evaporation and continuing rains.”

Noor Canalas, a resident of Barangay Tagumpay in Bay town, said water outside her home was about 2 meters deep. “We couldn’t evacuate because the school (turned evacuation center) is already full,” she said.

Romy Tapalla, of Barangay Bucal in Calamba, said 10 lakeshore villages in the city alone—Uwisan, Looc, Sampiruhan, Palingon, Lingga, Lecheria, Bucal, Pansol, Sucol and Masili—remained under water.

Free fish, crabs, prawns

The heavy rains also caused fishponds in Pampanga to overflow, bringing an unexpected blessing to residents.

By the roadside of the Gapan-San Fernando-Olongapo Road in Guagua and Lubao towns, hundreds of men threw fishing rods into flooded streams and farms, catching tilapia and catfish that had escaped from ponds.

In the southern towns of Minalin, Guagua, Sasmuan and Lubao, residents gathered prawns, crabs and catfish that came from overflowing ponds.

“They’re having a feast while we fishpond owners are worried how we are going to pay our debts,” said Doy Cabrera of Barangay Sta. Catalina in Minalin.

In the capital of San Fernando, soldiers, policemen and civilian volunteers resumed ferrying hundreds of residents marooned atop roofs of houses in the villages of San Nicolas, San Pedro Cutud, Sta. Lucia and San Jose since Tuesday night, Mayor Oscar Rodriguez said.

Breached dike

The floods, which rose up to 3 meters, occurred after water breached the San Pedro Cutud side of the San Fernando-Sto. Tomas-Minalin tail dike, a secondary catchment of the antilahar FVR Megadike.

As of Wednesday morning, the breached portion on Barangay San Vicente in Sto. Tomas town widened to 120 meters, said engineer Marni Castro, an adviser to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said 244 families, or 1,420 people, had been transferred to the Heroes Hall, the annex of the City Hall near the highway.

A rescue team from the Santiago City government in Isabela arrived in San Fernando and assisted in rescue missions using two of their own rubber boats.

Bus routes

Buses plying Pampanga, Olongapo City and Zambales resumed servicing these routes on Wednesday.

In Bataan, the national road traversing Dinalupihan town remains impassable due to flooding and a landslide triggered by monsoon rains.

Dinalupihan Mayor Joel Payumo said part of the mountainside near the Roosevelt national park collapsed and personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways have begun clearing the road.

But floodwater, which inundated 44 of Dinalupihan’s 46 villages, have subsided, Payumo said.

In Hermosa town, the villages of Almacen, Daungan, Pulo, Burgos and San Pedro remained under floodwater.

Dam water

In Bulacan, water level at Angat Dam on Wednesday reached 209 masl, barely a meter away from its spilling level of 210 masl.

Downstream from Angat, Bustos Dam had been releasing water at a rate of 200 cubic meters per second (cms), while Ipo Dam had been discharging water at 46.4 cms.

Lieutenant General Anthony Alcantara, commander of the military’s Northern Luzon Command, yesterday visited the flooded areas in Bulacan, where military trucks have been dispatched to ferry stranded residents. The trucks augmented the Malolos City fire trucks sent out to rescue people.

In Benguet province, rains yesterday slowed down policemen and firemen of Bokod town who were digging through a mine tunnel to rescue Felipe Plimaco, 33, a miner from La Union province, who has been trapped there since Friday.

The provincial police said their efforts had been augmented by miners sent by Philex Mining Corp.

Oversupply of veggies

Benguet’s vegetable farmers were forced to harvest their crops ahead of Typhoon “Gener” last week, creating an oversupply in the local market, the Department of Agriculture said.

La Trinidad Mayor Gregorio Abalos Jr. said he had not received reports of disruptions in vegetable trading.

The capital town hosts a vegetable trading post from where truckers ship out vegetables meant for Metro Manila each day. But floods have rendered sections of the North Luzon Expressway impassable on Tuesday.  Reports from Tonette Orejas, Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Robert Gonzaga and Greg Refraccion, Inquirer Central Luzon; Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon