‘Mario’ hits northern Luzon; mass evacuations reported

Trapped residents are rescued to safety after heavy monsoon rains spawned by tropical storm Fung-Wong flooded Marikina city, east of Manila, Philippines, and most parts of the metropolis Friday, Sept 19, 2014 AP

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Tropical storm “Mario” (international name: Fung-Wong) hit land at the northern tip of Cagayan province on Friday but, unlike other places, disaster response and local government officials in the Cagayan Valley region did not report any widespread flooding or mass evacuations despite the heavy rains dumped by the storm.

Several dams in northern and central Luzon, like Binga in Benguet province and Ipo and Bustos in Bulacan, released water on Friday as reservoir levels started to climb due to the downpours that started on Thursday.

The water level of the Magat Dam in Isabela province was recorded at 189.83 meters above sea level at 11 a.m. Friday, approaching its spilling level of 190 meters.

In Nueva Ecija province, police said farmer Oscar Arreza, 45, of Barangay Cabubulaonan in Talavera town, was reported missing after he was swept away by strong currents of the Talavera-Pampanga River while he was trying to pull his carabao out of the river.

A landslide blocked a section of a road leading to the upland town of Adams in Ilocos Norte province on Friday, a report from the Adams municipal disaster risk reduction and management council said.

The storm caused Vice President Jejomar Binay to cancel another trip to Isabela province.

The Cebu Pacific flight that would have taken Binay to Cauayan City was canceled, preventing the vice president from visiting soldiers of the 5th Infantry Division who were wounded in a recent clash with communist rebels in Abra, according to Binay’s local coordinators.

In Central Luzon region, six international flights were diverted to the Clark International Airport in the Clark Freeport in Pampanga province due to heavy rains at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Pasay City on Friday. At least three of the planes left for the Naia at 1 p.m..

The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Central Luzon reported heavy to intense rains over Sta. Maria and the City of San Jose del Monte in Bulacan.

Water levels at Angat Dam, Ipo Dam, and Bustos Dam were reported rising.

Officials in the Bulacan towns of Sta. Maria, Bocaue and Marilao reported evacuating 1,294 families as rains swelled major rivers.

Floodwaters in San Jose del Monte City, Meycauayan City, Marilao, Sta. Maria, Bocaue and Calumpit rose to between a foot to four feet.

Rains washed out eight houses in San Jose del Monte City, and 730 residents (152 families) from two villages there were evacuated, according to the Bulacan provincial disaster risk reduction and management council.

In Zambales province, the disaster council said four families in Palauig town were evacuated due to rising flood waters at 3:30 p.m.

In Tarlac City, the disaster officials said they were monitoring the flood situation in the province, which was still reeling from the flooding caused by Typhoon Luis in the towns of La Paz, Moncada and Paniqui. Some villages were submerged in flood waters of up to three feet.

Marvin Guiang, head of the provincial disaster council, said 653 families from Paniqui town and 84 families from La Paz town were still in evacuation centers.

In Pangasinan province, disaster response officials on Friday prepared themselves for flooding, said Avenix Arenas, spokesperson of the local disaster council.

In a flood advisory issued at 9 a.m. Friday, the Agno River Flood Forecasting and Warning Center in Rosales town said it was expecting light to moderate rains until Saturday morning. But it said that the rains would affect the water levels of the province’s three major river systems and their tributaries.

Arenas said a bridge spanning a portion of a national road connecting the towns of Aguilar and Mangatarem was closed to traffic.

The preparation for Mario was put in place as the provincial disaster council was still closely watching at least two Pangasinan towns and Dagupan City, which were flooded due to the rains dumped by Typhoon “Luis” (international name: Kalmaegi)

“Luis” left three persons dead and seven towns under a state of calamity and destroyed more than P500 million worth of crops and roads and bridges.

According to the website of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), the water elevation at the San Roque Dam in San Manuel town reached 267.87 meters above sea level on Friday, 12.13 meters below its maximum level of 280 meters.

But the Binga Dam on the Agno River in Benguet had opened two of its spillway gates at a meter each. Farther upstream, however, the water level at the Ambuklao Dam reached 750.52 meters, just 1.48 meters from its spilling level.

Water spilled by the Binga Dam flows downstream to the San Roque Dam reservoir.

(Reports from Villamor Visaya Jr., Gabriel Cardinoza and Leilanie Adriano, Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Tonette Orejas, Anselmo Roque, Allan Macatuno and Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon)

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