Girl drowns in Laguna river; landslides hit Laguna, Rizal

LEGAZPI CITY—A 15-year-old girl drowned in a river in Calauan, Laguna, while separate incidents of landslides triggered by the heavy downpour on Thursday forced several families to evacuate in Laguna and Rizal provinces.

Marian Riah Arcedo, 15, from Barangay Masiit, Calauan, was declared dead on arrival in a hospital in the neighboring town of Bay after drowning in a river around 9 a.m. on Thursday.

According to Rommel Palacol of the Laguna Action Center, Arcedo went out of their house despite the heavy rain to buy some items from a neighborhood store when she accidentally fell into a river.

Still in Laguna, 12 families, composed of 30 individuals, were forced to leave their homes in San Pedro City after a portion of a riprap that served as a river control system collapsed.

Palacol said the incident happened around 5 a.m. in Barangay Estrella. No one was reported hurt but the families had to stay in an evacuation center in the city.

In Rodriguez, Rizal, five families living in a National Housing Authority resettlement site were also evacuated after a riprap collapsed at the height of a heavy downpour at dawn on Thursday.

Rodriguez Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council officer Roeul Santos said the collapsed riprap was part of what the residents had put up to extend their homes.

He said five houses were damaged, forcing the affected families to move temporarily in a vacant unit inside the government housing site. No one was reported hurt in the incident.