5 children drown in Capiz floods

ROXAS CITY—Five children drowned and dozens of villages were submerged in floodwaters after three days of rains in Capiz province, relief officials reported Friday.

Disaster relief agencies said they expected the number of flooded barangays and affected families to increase as floodwaters continued to rise in several areas of the province owing to the incessant rains brought about by the tail end of a cold front.

In Manila, the weather bureau Pagasa [Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration] said it expected clear weather to prevail over the metropolis of 12 million people starting Saturday, after days of sudden summer rains.

No low pressure area has been sighted near the country, giving Filipinos a chance to mark the Holy Week in fairly good weather.

A bridge being constructed to connect Pontevedra to Panay town was destroyed by the floodwaters, relief officer Esperedion Pelaez said.

Capiz Governor Victor Tanco called an emergency meeting with the department heads and government agencies and announced the release of  P5 million from the province’s calamity fund to help in relief operations.

5,000 families affected

Inspector Leomindo Tayopon, Cuartero police chief, said that Albay, one of those who drowned, had gone bird hunting with friends when he slipped into a river and was carried away by the strong current. The boy’s body was found floating in the river hours later.

Police identified the fatalities in Capiz as Diomer Albay, 14, of Barangay (village) Bun-od, and Kathlene Padilla, 3, of Barangay Poblacion, both in Cuartero town; Jolly Dioso, 14, and Karen Denubo, 10, both of Barangay Tiniban in  Panitan town; and Rey Reyes, 9, of Barangay Poblacion in Mambusao.

The 3-year-old girl Padilla fell into a flooded rice field while playing near their house and drowned.

Dioso and Denubo also drowned while playing in a flooded rice field. Reyes drowned after falling into a creek near their house.

A total of nearly 5,000 families composed of more than 23,000 people were affected by the flooding, according to Pelaez, action officer of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC).

Twenty-six barangays in Mambusao were under water.

The other affected towns were Dao (20 barangays), Panay and Sigma (16 each), Dumarao (11), Maayon (10), Pontevedra (9), Pilar (8), Cuartero (6), Sapian (3), Dumalag (2) and President Roxas (1).

Estimates of damage to crops, property and infrastructures were not immediately available.

Tanco said he would ask the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to declare a state of calamity in some affected towns.

Good weather in Metro

Pagasa said the rains and cloudy, humid weather that Metro Manila and the eastern and southern parts of Luzon had been experiencing were due to the tail end of the cold front, where two masses of air meet.

The tail end of the cold front generates huge amounts of clouds and usually prevails over Luzon at this time of the year, Pagasa said.

Forecaster Julie Mimes said the rains were expected to stop in Metro Manila beginning Saturday.

“By tomorrow, the weather should be good,” she said, adding Metro Manila and surrounding provinces in Southern Luzon should see clear skies and warm weather until Thursday.

Warning to fishermen

The tail end of the cold front was moving north toward Central and Northern Luzon, Pagasa said in its 5 p.m. advisory Friday. It warned communities there of rains and thunderstorms that could trigger landslides and flash floods.

Visayas and Mindanao should expect sudden and isolated thunderstorms and rains in the afternoon during the weekend, Pagasa said.

Although no cyclones are expected during the Holy Week, the weather bureau cautioned fishermen and smaller sea vessels against venturing out to sea. It said the entire Luzon and Visayas seaboard would have rough to very rough waters.

“Fishing boats and other small seacrafts are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves,” Pagasa said.

Small boats

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is not suspending shipping operations to and from Manila.

“Since we have no typhoon signal, there is no suspension of trips.  But it’s up to our PCG districts and stations in the provinces, in coordination with local government units, to implement extra measures to keep our people safe, especially those on small boats,” Coast Guard spokesperson Lieutenant Commodore Algier Ricafrente said.

Ricafrente said authorities in areas with zero visibility owing to heavy rains should not allow small boats to sail.—With a report from Jerome Aning