It looks like a fun ride for this woman as the horse-drawn cart she’s on passes through the flooded Taft Avenue at the height of Typhoon Pedring. ARNOLD ALMACEN/INQUIRER
CALUMPIT—Tens of thousands of people in the Philippines battled neck-deep floodwaters on Wednesday in a chaotic aftermath to a ferocious typhoon that claimed at least 23 lives.
With some areas on the outskirts of Manila deluged with floods up to 1.5 meters (five feet) deep, authorities sent out boats to rescue people stranded on the roofs of their houses.
One of the worst affected areas was Bulacan province, an hour’s drive north of the capital, where dykes burst and water was released from dams that reached critical levels during the height of Typhoon Pedring’s (international name: Nesat) fury on Tuesday.
“Two of my sons are stranded, they texted me that they spent last night on the roof,” 56-year-old security guard Resty Tolentino told Agence France-Presse as he waded through murky waters in a bid to reach his home in Calumpit town.
He and another son, a 13-year-old boy, struggled with the strong current in the waist-deep water while carrying food and other supplies.
Civil defense officials said that more than 73,000 people in Bulacan and nearby provinces were affected by the floods.
Pedring slammed into the Philippines main island of Luzon before dawn on Tuesday, dumping enormous amounts of rain over the area that is home to 48 million people, before moving into the West Philippine Sea on Wednesday.
The capital was brought to a near standstill during the height of the typhoon with dramatic storm surges in Manila Bay that crashed over seawalls, flooding a hospital, a five-star hotel and the US embassy.
The death toll rose to 23 on Wednesday from 16 overnight, with another 35 people missing.
However most of the newly reported deaths were due to landslides in the mountainous regions of the northern Philippines, and not the flooded areas in or near the capital.
Authorities said their top priority on Wednesday was to help those stranded in flooded villages and to repair damaged infrastructure in Manila before more bad weather struck.
“We are focusing on trying to get power and telecommunications services today, and work crews have also fanned out to repair and clear 61 road networks across Luzon,” civil defense chief Benito Ramos told AFP.
He said said more than a million people remained without power on Wednesday in Manila and seven outlying provinces.
Mayor Orencio Gabriel of coastal Obando town in Bulacan said huge waves broke eight dykes and flooded entire villages.
“The water was quick to rise here after the dykes broke,” Gabriel said on ANC television as he issued an appeal for relief items. “Our municipal hall remains under chest-deep water.”
He said rescuers had tried to reach isolated areas using trucks but were turned back by high waters.
However civil defense chief Ramos also expressed frustration at some of those who ignored warnings to evacuate their homes and then required help.
“Now they are already on rooftops and they want the government to evacuate them… we are sending boats but they are limited,” he said.
The rescue and clean-up work was being carried out amid concerns over another storm brewing in the Pacific Ocean that the state weather bureau said could hit Luzon on the weekend.
“We need to finish emergency work in the aftermath of Pedring before this storm comes,” Ramos said.
“We are praying for the skies to clear a little bit today.”
The Philippines endures an average of 20 major storms a year.
Super typhoon Nanmadol killed 35 last month, and at least 70 others were killed by storms Nock-ten and Muifa in July.
Two years ago, tropical storm Ondoy (international codename: Ketsana) left 464 people dead after flooding more than 80 percent of Metro Manila.