Heavy flooding swamps Metro Manila

FORGING AHEAD. An ambulance negotiates a flooded street Tuesday in Quezon City. Waist-deep floods have swamped the streets in Metro Manila after a night of monsoon rains closed down schools and government offices. AP

MANILA, Philippines—Waist-deep floods have swamped the streets in Metro Manila after a night of monsoon rains closed down schools and government offices.

Authorities mobilized emergency personnel Tuesday to ready evacuations of areas near rivers and canals where floodwaters are rising.

Marikina River was placed on Alert Level 2 as its water lever reached 16.1 meters above sea level as of 1 p.m.  A total of 113 families living along the Marikina River trooped to different evacuation centers.

In Quezon City, residents of flood-prone areas were urged to leave as the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council hoisted alert level 1, where voluntary evacuation is in effect.

Families along Gumamela Street in Barangay Roxas District, a low-lying  area, were alerted for possible evacuation, he said.

In Barangay Doña Imelda, some 11 families were relocated to the barangay hall to keep them safe from flooding.

Gregorio Banacia, chief of the Public Affairs and Information Service Office, added that seven families were evacuated from Barangay Damayang Lagi.

Massive traffic jams slowed down movement in many sections of the capital.

No casualties have been immediately reported.

The northern Philippines has been battered by back-to-back storms that killed more than 60 people in the last two weeks.

Nearly 1,000 people died in and around Manila in 2009 during the heaviest rainfall in decades following several powerful typhoons. Karen Boncocan, INQUIRER.net; Niña Calleja, Julie M. Aurelio, Philippine Daily Inquirer