Motorists brave a raging floodwaters brought about by typhoon “Nari” to cross a highway at San Ildefonso township, Bulacan province, north of Manila, Philippines Saturday Oct. 12, 2013. The typhoon with 150 kilometers (94 miles) per hour winds and gusts of up to 185 kph (116 mph) forced U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to call off his trip to the Philippines on Friday. AP
As if it had an appointment somewhere, Typhoon “Santi” sped across Central Luzon on Saturday and was out into the West Philippine Sea by early afternoon.
With wind speeds of up to 180 kilometers per hour, Santi (international name: Rani) slammed into Aurora province around midnight on Friday and whipped through Central Luzon on Saturday faster than expected, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.
The typhoon smashed into the mountains of Aurora and “like a spinning top,” it bounced from peak to peak then careened off the range.
The last bounce shot Santi like a ball across Central Luzon.
“That was the reason it left the Luzon landmass earlier than expected,” Pagasa forecaster Gladys Saludes said.
Santi had been forecast to move westward at 15 kph. The bounce off the mountain sent it across the region at 22 kph.
As of 11 a.m. on Saturday, the eye of the typhoon was already over the sea, 100 kilometers west of Iba town in Zambales province, Pagasa said.
The typhoon was forecast to move westward at 19 kph and to be out of the Philippine area of responsibility by Sunday morning.
Storm signals lifted
Pagasa lifted public storm warning signals in all provinces except Zambales and Bataan, which remained under Signal No. 1, indicating wind speeds of 30-60 kph.
Sea travel remained risky off the western seaboards of Luzon and the Visayas, the weather bureau said.
Saludes said the tropical depression seen Friday over the Pacific Ocean had developed into a storm and was expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility Monday morning.
But she said the storm would not make landfall anywhere in the Philippines. It would likely graze the northern parts of the country as it heads toward Japan, she said.
As Santi hurtled across Central Luzon Saturday, its powerful winds uprooted trees, ripped roofs off houses and downed power pylons, leaving more than 2 million people without electricity.
Torrential rains generated by the typhoon flooded populated areas and waterlogged mountainsides, causing landslides.
Thirteen dead
At least 13 people were killed, civil defense officials said.
One of the dead was a police officer who was awaiting deployment to rescue typhoon victims when a wall of mud fell on a police patrol base near the town of Magalang in Pampanga province, the officials said.
President Aquino ordered the military and the agencies to respond to the emergency.
The Office of Civil Defense in Central Luzon said that Police Officer 1 Cresencio Bueno, a member of the Regional Public Safety Battalion, was inside the police patrol base in Ayala village Magalang town when a wall of mud from a landslide buried the station after midnight.
Other fatalities were identified as 81-year-old Ricardo del Rosario, who was pinned under a school’s wall that collapsed in Mabalacat, Pampanga; Francisco Serrano, who died of a heart attack while strong winds lashed Lubao town, also in Pampanga; Michael Parungao of Candaba town, the same province, who was electrocuted; Iris Balingit, 16, who died after a mango tree fell on her family’s house in Jaen town in Nueva Ecija province on Friday night; Genelle Yudoc, 7, and Florida Riguar, 70, both hit by falling trees in Bongabon town, Nueva Ecija; Raymond Samson, 7, and Rachele Samson, 8, hit by a falling tree in Concepcion town, Tarlac province.
Authorities recovered an unidentified body in Dangalan town, Aurora, and three other unidentified bodies in San Miguel town, Bulacan province.
Fishermen missing
Three fishermen from Viga town, Catanduanes province, were reported missing. They were identified as Andres Timuat, 42; Edilberto Arcilla, 55; and Jose Burak, 58.
The three men went out to sea to fish on Oct. 8, and had not returned as of Saturday.
Santi toppled power pylons, blacking out Aurora on the east coast of Luzon and about half of Tarlac and large areas of Pampanga and Nueva Ecija in Central Luzon and Zambales on the west coast, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
NDRRMC executive director Eduardo del Rosario said the typhoon’s strong winds felled trees that hit power lines, cutting electricity in most towns in those Central Luzon provinces.
Del Rosario said half of the fatalities were also killed by trees felled by the winds.
The disaster council said more than 60,000 people were affected by Santi, most of whom were from flooded towns in Central Luzon.
Deep floodwaters
Floodwaters rose as high as 3 meters in some villages in San Miguel town in Bulacan.
The regional disaster council said the floodwaters came from Nueva Ecija and the mountains above San Miguel.
Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado said the provincial government was checking to see if the flood was worsened by water from Bulo Dam.
Philippine Red Cross (PRC) secretary general Gwen Pang said floodwaters in hard-hit Bulacan province were up to 1.8-m deep.
Pang said a number of residents did not want to leave their homes and just asked to be given relief goods.
“We’re discussing with the local government units what to do with the people who do not want to evacuate,” Pang said.
More than 5,000 families were evacuated from Isabela, Bulacan, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya and Aurora.
Dams spill water
Heavy rain pushed the water line at Bustos Dam in Bulacan beyond the spilling level of 17.80 meters above sea level, forcing a discharge of water at 700 cubic meters per second until the water line was reduced to 17 masl.
The water level at Angat Dam in the same province rose by 4 m to 206.54 masl.
Ipo Dam in Norzagaray town in the province also discharged water after the water level rose beyond the limit of 101 masl.
Officials said 27 villages in Malolos City, Meycauayan City and the Bulacan towns of Marilao, Calumpit, Balagtas, San Ildefonso and San Rafael were flooded. Local governments evacuated 399 families, the officials said.
The Department of Public Works and Highways reported that the stretch of McArthur Highway in Sta. Cruz and Salapungan villages in Tarlac City was flooded and impassable.
Also impassable as crews cleared landslides were stretches of Romulo Highway in Padapada village in Sta. Ignacia town, Tarlac; the La Paz, Tarlac-Zaragoza road in Nueva Ecija; and the Tampo-Porac-Botolan road in Zambales.
Acacias uprooted
In the Pampanga capital of San Fernando, the typhoon uprooted seven acacia trees, according to Mayor Edwin Santiago.
But the pruning of trees in the city in September prevented road accidents during the onslaught of Santi, Santiago said.
Santi also toppled trees in many other parts of Central Luzon and ripped roofs off houses in Aurora, where typhoon made landfall in Dingalan town.
Gov. Gerardo Noveras said 2,524 people were evacuated from their homes in Baler, Dipaculao, Casiguran, Dilasag and Dingalan towns on the coast.
Isabela province was on the path of Santi, but was spared from destruction.
The typhoon also missed La Union province.
In Quirino province, 50 families spent Friday night in an evacuation center in Cabarroguis town to escape from the wrath of the typhoon.
In Zambales, 2,124 people had left their homes in Masinloc and Sta. Cruz towns before the typhoon struck.
In Laguna province, flooding threatened a school in Siniloan town, while residents of Pangil feared the river in the town might overflow and inundate the municipality.
Stranded travelers
In Cebu, at least 1,000 travelers were stranded at the ports as ferry services were suspended.
Several flights to Manila were delayed and several incoming international flights were diverted from Clark International Airport in Pampanga to Mactan Cebu International Airport. With reports from Michael Lim Ubac in Manila; Tonette Orejas, Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Anselmo Roque, Armand Galang, Cesar Villa, Robert Gonzaga and Jo Martinez-Clemente, Inquirer Central Luzon; Gabriel Cardinoza, Villamor Visaya Jr. and Cristina Arzadon, Inquirer Northern Luzon; Romulo O. Ponte, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas; AP and AFP
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