2 more die, 50,000 evacuated as monsoon rains continue

Residents wade through a flooded street in San Mateo, Rizal province, east of Manila on August 13, 2016. Floods inundated major thoroughfares in the capital late on August 12, after heavy rains brought about by southwest moonson, authorities said on August 13. / AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS

LUCENA CITY—A construction worker drowned while at least five others remained missing after a tunnel project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) was submerged in floodwaters in General Nakar, Quezon, a disaster response official said on Monday.

Henry Buzar, Quezon Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (DRRMC) officer, said Salvador Pacling, who survived the accident on Saturday morning, confirmed the drowning of an unidentified worker at the site.

Buzar, citing a military report, identified the five workers trapped inside the water diversion structure as David Guiagui Jr., Roland Sanchez, Danny Harnois, Simion Sig-Od and Ferdie Sanadan.

Erberto Astrera, General Nakar DRRMC officer, said in a phone interview the workers belonged to  Cavite Ideal International Construction, which is working on the MWSS P717-million Sumag River diversion project.

In Cavite, a man drowned after rampaging waters swept his car away at the height of the monsoon rains in General Emilio Aguinaldo town on Sunday.

Vicente Tomazar, director of the disaster risk reduction and management council (DRRMC) in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region, said the victim with two passengers were travelling on the Terapichi Bridge at 1 a.m. Sunday when their car was swept away by the floodwaters.

Evacuees double

Meanwhile, the number of persons evacuated from their homes has doubled to 50,000 as the southwest monsoon, known locally  as “habagat,” continued its onslaught in Central and northern Luzon, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Coordinating Council.

In a press briefing, Office of Civil Defense spokesperson Romina Marasigan said that as of 8 a.m. on Monday, 11,087 families or 50,592 people were in 104 evacuation centers.

Marasigan said that as of Monday, 19,406 families or 80,467 people had been affected by 17 habagat-related incidents in 37 barangays in six Metro Manila cities and 141 barangays in 34 towns, 12 cities and nine provinces in Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas and Negros.

The OCD official cautioned local government units against hastily sending the evacuees home, citing the weather bureau’s forecast of light to moderate rains and thunderstorms until Friday in Luzon and Western Visayas.

The latest incidents reported to the NDRRMC were the collapse of the fence of the Bataan National High School in Balanga, Bataan, on Friday and the two tornadoes that hit Manila and Quezon City on Sunday.

The number of injured also rose, the latest additions being the five persons injured in the collapse of a firewall on Oroquieta Street, Sta. Cruz, Manila on Saturday, namely, Arnold Gomez, 25; Rommel Edio, 32; Eyan Buena, 32; Elmer Robello, 30; and Vernie Andam, 35. The first person reported injured was John Harry Coera, 38, who suffered leg injuries when hit by falling boulders in Taytay, Rizal, on Friday.

All five reported fatalities have also been identified. They were Mary Hope Berina, 14, and Argilyn Joyce Gonzales, 16, who died in the Sta. Cruz firewall collapse; Archie Contado, 27, of Barangay Mariana, QC, who drowned on Saturday; Jonel Fernandez, 11, of Sampaloc, Manila, another drowning victim whose body was recovered at the Nagtahan Pumping Station in Manila on Friday, and Benedicto Brasileno, 68, of Barangay Canauillian, Janiuay, Iloilo, who drowned on Wednesday.

A fisherman, Ruben Pahilagmo, 56, of Gasan, Marinduque, remained missing after he went to sea on Monday.

Residents of coastal communities in Pampanga and Bulacan on Monday were advised to prepare for more floods as continuous monsoon rains could swell the Pampanga River.

In an advisory, the Pampanga River Flood Forecasting and Warning Center said monsoon rains would dump 20 to 40 millimeters of rainwater, which could swell the tributaries of the Rio Chico River, the lower Pampanga River, the Candaba Swamp, the Pasac-Guagua River, and its allied rivers of Abacan, Pasig-Potrero, Porac-Gumain in the Pampanga river basin. Delfin T. Mallari Jr. and Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Jerome Aning in Manila; Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon