Metro Manila officials on Monday began preparing for Typhoon Pedring, which is expected to make landfall in Aurora province Tuesday morning.
On Monday morning, signal No. 1 was raised in the metropolis, leading to the suspension of classes in the elementary and high school levels in both private and public schools.
In Manila, the city government said it would offer free rides to commuters who may end up being affected by floods spawned by Pedring Tuesday.
Mayor Alfredo Lim’s chief of staff Ricardo de Guzman said that they had made arrangements for free shuttle services for stranded people.
According to him, they would make use of available vehicles from the Department of Public Services, the Manila Police District and City Engineering Office.
“When we see that there are stranded commuters, mostly on Taft Avenue or Padre Burgos Avenue, we will radio for the government vehicles to give them a ride up to [city] boundaries such as Welcome Rotunda in Quezon City or Vito Cruz in Pasay,” De Guzman said.
Though there were no reports of flooding on Monday in the city, the city engineer’s office had started inspecting drainage systems and declogging canals.
De Guzman added that should floodwaters rise, residents living beside waterways would be evacuated to nearby covered courts and basketball courts.
In Malabon, Roderick Tongol, head of the city’s disaster and risk reduction committee, said that the local government had placed its personnel on alert.
“All our departments are [ready] for anything that may happen,” Tongol told the Inquirer.
The order for concerned personnel to monitor the situation and be on the lookout for typhoon-related emergencies was issued to representatives from the engineering, health, social welfare, police and fire departments in a meeting at city hall Monday.
“Once the heavy rains really pour, we will officially be on red alert and activate the local disaster risk reduction committee,” Tongol said.
The local government is strictly monitoring the flood-prone barangays (villages) of Catmon, Maysilo, Panghulo and Dampalit, he added.
On standby at city hall are two rubber boats, three fiberglass boats and two flood boats donated by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.
In Quezon City, some 200 policemen are on standby for deployment to the flood-prone areas of Araneta Avenue, Talayan, Tullahan and Bagong Silangan.
“All 12 police stations in Quezon City have also designated reserve units of trained personnel to respond to another ‘Ondoy,’” said safety commander Superintendent Gerardo Ratuita.—With a report from Penelope Endozo