‘Lando’ slowly moving toward Taiwan

Fatalities

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento and other NDRRMC members were on the C-130 plane that was supposed to leave for Aurora at 10 a.m., but decided not to proceed.

Sarmiento said the mission was supposed to be an aerial inspection and relief mission to the province, which bore the brunt of Lando.

As of Tuesday, the death toll in Central Luzon climbed to 9. In Aurora, Leonardo Cinco, 11; Armando de Leon, 26; and Riza Lisma, 40, died from multiple wounds from objects toppled or blown by Lando’s winds.

Mario Abesamis, 58, and Pedro Tuares, 64, both of General Tinio in Nueva Ecija, drowned.

Violeta Magbalot, 57 and of Moncada, Tarlac, died after she touched a live electric wire.

In Zambales, Benita Famanilay, 62, died after she was pinned down by a concrete wall that collapsed beside her house in Barangay Asinan in Subic town.

Evangeline Mas, 58, a teacher from Barangay Gama in Sta. Cruz town, drowned.

Edward Pinasen, 25, was buried in a landslide that hit their house on Sunday night in a former mining site in Barangay Lucapon South, also in Sta. Cruz town. The body of Staypany Manila was found floating in Lauis River in nearby Candelaria town on Tuesday.

In Pangasinan, four people, including a 3-year-old girl and her year-old sister, drowned, raising to seven the number of fatalities in the province.

Police said the victims were crossing a flooded area on a banca in Barangay Garita in Bani town when the boat was swept away by a strong current and capsized at 4 p.m. Monday.

State of calamity

On Tuesday, the Pangasinan provincial board placed the province in a state of calamity.

Nestor Batalla, assistant provincial agriculturist, said initial damage to agriculture was P10.9 million. Damage to infrastructure in the province was initially estimated at P49.9 million.

The provincial social welfare and development office reported 2,301 families from 46 villages in the province’s 15 towns and cities had been evacuated due flash floods. The number did not include 588 families evacuated in Dagupan City.

At least five roads in the province remained flooded and closed to all types of vehicles, including a section of the Urdaneta-Dagupan highway in Barangay Pinmalupdpod in Urdaneta City.

FROLICKING IN THE FLOODS Kids will be kids, no matter the dangers posed by muddy floodwaters brought about by Tropical Storm “Lando” along Maharlika Highway in Cabanatuan City. Nueva Ecija towns and cities were among the worst-hit by rising floodwaters that poured down from surrounding mountains in the wake of the typhoon. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Flooding was also expected to linger in low lying villages of Calasiao and Sta. Barbara towns due to the swollen Sinocalan River.

Water from dams

At 10 a.m. Tuesday, Ambuklao and Binga dams in the upstream of the Agno River in Benguet continued to spill water. Ambuklao had eight gates raised to a total height of five meters to spill water at 836 cubic meters per second (cms). Binga’s six gates had a total opening of 9 meters, releasing water at 1,210 cms.

Water released by Ambuklao flows into Binga. Water spilled from Binga is caught by San Roque Dam at the river’s downstream in San Manuel town.

At 6 p.m. Monday, San Roque began releasing water.

Residents in Villasis town panicked on Monday night after receiving a text message from the NDRRMC saying that their town was among nine towns traversed by the Agno River that should expect “sudden floods” in three to four hours.

“For us who have experienced the trauma of Typhoon ‘Pepeng’ in October 2009, the message—as constructed—from the NDRRMC brought back the horrors of that fateful day,” said former Vice Mayor Roderick Mina, now the town’s planning and development officer.

“Despite strong rains and wind, people rushed to the hillside barangays (higher ground) in panic, with their children and old folks in the middle of the night. People were out in the streets and local government officials had to stay awake overnight to assure and calm the people’s fears,” he said.

In Isabela, two people were killed in San Mariano town and another was killed in Tumauini town.

Pass impassable

Landslides have not all been cleared, making Dalton Pass, Cagayan Valley’s gateway to and from the region, still impassable.

In Santa Fe, Nueva Vizcaya, landslides buried a house and a car and caused a trailer truck to fall off a ravine there.

In Cagayan, at least 26 villages were flooded due to water discharged by Magat Dam in Isabela. Twenty six more villages were flooded in Tuguegarao and Solana town.

Evacuation in Pampanga

In Pampanga, despite sunny weather on Tuesday, local officials and police forcibly evacuated hundreds of residents in the towns of Arayat, Candaba, San Luis, San Simon and Apalit as waters dumped by Lando on Nueva Ecija reached downstream of the Pampanga River before emptying into Manila Bay.

The Pampanga River is the drainer of more than 30 rivers in Central Luzon.

Floodwaters in riverside villages in Nueva Ecija and Pampanga rose from a foot to six feet, a report from the regional disaster risk reduction and management council showed. With reports from Vincent Cabreza, Kimberlie Quitasol, Villamor Visaya Jr., Gabriel Cardinoza, Yolanda Sotelo, Johanne Margarette Macob and Cristina Arzadon, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and Tonette Orejas, Allan Macatuno, Ron Lopez and Anselmo Roque, Inquirer Central Luzon; and Ronnel W. Domingo, Jerry E. Esplanada and Jeannette I. Andrade in Manila