Floods split SCTEx, hit more than 200 villages in C. Luzon

Photo from aerial inspection by Air Force in Laguna.

MANILA, Philippines—An apparent break in the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) was one of the startling sights spawned by the southwest monsoon rains enhanced by Tropical Storm “Maring”

A record rainfall for the past few days has resulted in strong currents along the Pasig Potrero River, causing the saturation and erosion of the properties adjacent to SCTEx and redirection of the current to the approach of the Pasig Potrero bridge, thus leading to the erosion of the embankment, a statement of SCTEx said.

A section of SCTEX from Clark South going to Porac has been closed as a result to ensure the safety of motorists. Rerouting of traffic flow to and from the Subic area and surrounding towns is currently being implemented, while a technical assessment on the damage is ongoing.

However, the SCTEX Clark-Tarlac section remains open to all vehicular traffic.

Maring flooded more than 200 villages in Central Luzon on Tuesday and killed at least three children in separate drowning cases in the provinces of Bataan, Bulacan and Pampanga.

Reports from the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) said Jeric Sorgello, 3, was swept away by strong current after he fell into a river in Barangay (village) Alas-asin in Mariveles, Bataan, at 3 p.m. on Monday. His body was recovered two hours later.

Jian Charles Centeno, 11 months, drowned as floodwaters reached their house in Barangay Canalate in the City of Malolos in Bulacan at 4:30 p.m. on Monday.

Justin Viray, 15 months, drowned in Barangay Sta. Lucia Paguiba in Minalin, Pampanga, also on Monday afternoon. The RDRRMC said the mother placed the baby on a crib when she left the house. Shortly after, she returned and saw the baby floating in a creek near their house.

The deaths raised to four the fatalities from the onslaught of Maring in Central Luzon. Early Monday, Renato Lacsamana, 64, drowned after he fell into a river while checking the water level in Sitio (settlement) Lapu-lapu in Barangay Sta. Cruz, Lubao, Pampanga.

The RDRRMC said 236 barangays were flooded—138 in Pampanga, 63 in Bulacan, 25 in Bataan and 10 in Tarlac. Heavily flooded were Barangays Gutad and Dampe in Floridablanca, Pampanga, after the Porac River overflowed in the villages of Valdez, San Isidro and Mabical.

Local officials suspended classes in all levels in Bataan; Obando, Malolos, Meycauayan City, Baliwag, Calumpit, Sta. Maria, San Jose del Monte and Marilao in Bulacan; and City of San Fernando, Angeles City, Floridablanca and Guagua in Pampanga.

Pampanga

In San Fernando, floodwaters rose to 1.5 feet along the Garbes-Dizon section of the Manila North Road. Foot-high floodwaters inundated Jasa-Lazatin Avenue.

The local council declared Masantol in Pampanga under a state of calamity.

In Minalin town, the San Fernando-Sto. Tomas-Minalin Tail Dike overflowed at past 5 a.m. on Tuesday, unleashing floodwater to 100 hectares of fishponds and about 1,000 homes, Mayor Edgar Flores said.

At 7 a.m., residents rushed to sandbag half a kilometer of the dike’s segment in Barangay Sta. Rita to prevent breaching and slow down the onslaught of water coming from the Gugu River inside the FVR Megadike, a catchment of volcanic sediments from Mt. Pinatubo’s 1991 eruptions.

The 19-kilometer tail dike breached in four portions at the height of the habagat on Aug. 7 last year.

Gov. Lilia Pineda said residents had been advised to prepare for evacuation since Sunday when the storm began dumping heavy rains.

Water levels in four dams in the region rose due to strong rains. These, however, had not reached spilling levels as of 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Angat Dam on Tuesday morning had a water level of 194.48 meters above sea level (masl); Ipo Dam, 100.18 masl; Pantabangan Dam, 191 masl; and Bustos Dam, 17.50 masl.

Bustos and Ipo dams, however, continued to release water on Tuesday.

Impassable roads

Several sections of roads in Bataan were impassable to light vehicles on Tuesday, reports from the Department of Public Works and Highways said. These were in Layac and Tuyo along Mariveles Road; Mandama, Cataning, Poblacion-Mabuco in Hermosa; Tabing Ilog in Samal; Mulawin in Orani; and Sta. Lucia, Mabatang and Capitangan in Abucay.

Floods also rendered impassable the Bigaa Plaridel Road in Malolos, and the Manila North Road in Barangay Pandayan and Panginay in Bulakan town in Bulacan.

The Romulo Highway at Barangay Tuec in Camiling, Tarlac, was also impassable. In Pampanga, vehicles could not pass through the Baliwag-Candaba-Sta. Ana Road in Barangay Paligui, Candaba and Apalit-Macabebe-Masantol Road.

Local governments opened 28 evacuation centers, with seven each in Bataan and Pampanga, three in Bulacan and 11 in Zambales. Mostly schools and barangay halls serving as evacuation centers sheltered 644 families or 2,786 people, the RDRRMC reported.

Zambales

In Zambales province, reports from the Philippine Red Cross said at least 63 villages in the towns of Iba, Botolan, Cabangan, Palauig, Masinloc, Candelaria and Sta. Cruz were flooded on Tuesday.

In Sta. Cruz town, residents were forced to flee their homes to escape water escaping from a busted irrigation dike in Barangay Guisguis, 30 kilometers east of the town proper.

Government personnel, policemen and soldiers have been working since Monday to rescue and move villagers to the evacuation centers.

The power supply was cut off in the northern towns and classes remained suspended in the province.

On Tuesday, Tamayok River in Barangay Ilwas in Subic town overflowed, rendering a road in the village impassable due to a four-foot-deep floodwater.

In Nueva Ecija province, officials were watching five villages in Cabanatuan City for possible flooding.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in the Ilocos region said flooding was monitored in all four provinces in the region.

Pangasinan

Pangasinan province recorded the highest number of families affected by flooding at 1,491, followed by Ilocos Sur with 351 families; La Union, 80; and Ilocos Norte, 60.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) in Pangasinan reported that 5,319 families were affected by the flooding, or higher than the OCD report. At least 60 villages in 10 towns and cities have been flooded since Sunday.

Avenix Arenas, spokesperson of the PDRRMC, said 41 villages were submerged in the towns of Aguilar, Bugallon, Lingayen, Mangatarem, Calasiao, Bayambang, Sta. Barbara and Mangaldan and Urdaneta City.

In Dagupan City, 19 villages were flooded due to swollen rivers and the high tide. Mayor Belen Fernandez suspended classes in all levels on Tuesday.

A man identified as Eduardo Lagos, 50, was reported missing after he was swept away by river current in Barangay Tampog in Bayambang town.

Arenas said 468 families from 15 villages in the towns of Aguilar, Bugallon, Lingayen, Calasiao and Urdaneta have been evacuated. She said the PDRRMC had begun distributing relief goods to them.

Floodwaters also submerged some 1,035.5 hectares of rice fields in six towns. Some 12.8 hectares of fishponds also overflowed, releasing stocks worth P981,000.

Sta. Barbara Mayor Carlito Zaplan said the municipal council declared a state of calamity.

Benguet dams

Although the rains had stopped, the water level at Sinocalan River that traverses his town continued to rise, Zaplan said.

At noon Tuesday, Ambuklao Dam had only two spillway gates open at half-meter high each. Its water level was recorded at 749.85 masl, 2.15 meters from its spilling level of 752 masl.

The Binga Dam, located below Ambuklao, closed its four spillway gates, leaving only two open at 1.5 meters. Water level was 570.16 masl, about 4.84 meters below its spilling level of 575 masl.

Both found in Benguet province, the dams flow to San Roque Dam in San Manuel, Pangasinan. At noon Tuesday, San Roque’s water level was 265.12 masl, or 14.88 meters below its spilling level of 280 masl.

Ilocos Sur

Melchito Castro, OCD regional director, said incessant rains damaged nearly P1 million worth of fishery products in Ilocos Sur.

Floods also rendered the Luna-Bangar Road impassable on Monday night.

Forced evacuation was conducted in Sta. Maria town, Ilocos Sur, while a state of calamity was declared in Narvacan town.

In Mt. Province, Sagada Mayor Eduardo Latawan said he asked the police and the Philippine Army for divers to help search for a missing tourist, identified as Irene Manaois.

Manaois, a government employee from Pangasinan, was among the 31 people trapped by rising waters inside the Sumaguing Cave in Sagada on Sunday. They were rescued on Monday, except for Manaois who might have been swept away by the underground river.

The OCD in the Cordillera said rescue workers have not yet found Rosalino Calantay after crossing a river in Tubo, Abra, and Monching Bakidan, who was carried away by the Chico River in Bontoc, Mt. Province.

Major roads to and from Baguio City, including Kennon Road and Halsema Highway, were open to traffic on Tuesday.

The DPWH closed the Mt. Province-Cagayan Road via Tabuk City-Enrile because of a damaged bridge there. It also closed the Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya Road due to landslides.

Power has yet to be restored in Quirino province and parts of San Agustin town in Isabela, a week after Typhoon “Labuyo” toppled electric posts, damaged transformers and cut power lines. Quirino has been under a state of calamity since last week.

Laguna

Sixteen of the 18 villages in Santa Rosa City, Laguna province, were submerged in floodwaters, Mayor Arlene Arcillas said.

“Laguna Lake did not overflow despite the heavy rains. But the flash floods from upland Cavite submerged the villages located in the city proper,” Arcillas said.

She said almost 99 percent of the houses in private subdivisions in low-lying places were inundated. “In some areas, the floods completely submerged entire (bungalow) houses. Many residents were forced to stay on the roofs of their houses,” she said.

As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, Arcillas said hundreds of families were still staying in some of the 25 public schools and village halls which the local social work and development office had designated as evacuation centers.

With the help of some private companies, she said the city government had started distributing relief goods to displaced residents.

Cavite

The high tide has not helped Cavite floodwaters to subside.

Kawit and Rosario towns and the City of Bacoor remained flooded on Tuesday as rains persisted. River systems in the two coastal towns overflowed, worsened by the high tide on Manila Bay that prevented inland floodwaters from receding.

In a phone interview, Gov. Juanito Victor Remulla said floodwaters in many areas were still knee-deep.

In Kawit, the compound of the historical Aguinaldo Shrine was under water as the nearby Marulas River continued to swell. Rosario Mayor Jose Ricafrente said around 200 families were in evacuation centers.

The road heading to Noveleta town was impassable.

In Bacoor City, more than 60 villages out of 73 villages, including public health centers, were still submerged, city information officer Kathrina Sanchez said.

Rizal

Rizal Gov. Rebecca “Nini” Ynares in a phone interview said rains forced the families back to the evacuation center.

Separate reports from the municipal disaster offices showed 110 families at the evacuation centers in Baras, 908 families in Rodriguez, and 343 families in Angono.

A state of calamity was declared in the town of San Mateo, which was the hardest hit in the province.

Ynares said 10 of the 14 towns and cities had been affected by the torrential rains since the weekend. Damage to crops was initially placed at P1.4 million.—Reports from Miguel Camus, Tonette Orejas, Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Greg Refraccion, Anselmo Roque, Armand Galang, Jun Malig and Cesar Villa, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Gabriel Cardinoza, Yolanda Sotelo, Cristina Arzadon, Vincent Cabreza, Villamor Visaya Jr. and Kimberlie Quitasol, Inquirer Northern Luzon; Maricar P. Cinco, Romulo O. Ponte and Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon; and and Marlon Ramos in Manila