'PEDRING': MASSIVE RESCUE UNDERWAY IN BULACAN / 'RAMON' ENTERS PHL
[PHOTO - In this photo released by the Philippine Coast Guard, floodwaters from Typhoon Pedring (Nesat) cover rice fields surrounding a village in Cabiao town, Nueva Ecija province, northern Philippines on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011. The powerful typhoon left devastation in the Philippines, triggering some of the worst flooding in downtown Manila in decades. (AP Photo/Philippine Coast Guard)]
MANILA, OCTOBER 1, 2011 (STAR) Rescue teams from various groups trooped to Bulacan province to rescue hundreds of residents, who were forced to stay on their houses' roofs, due to massive flooding since last night.
Floodwater swamps Pampanga, Bulacan boundary. An undetermined number of vehicles have become stranded along McArthur Highway, at the boundary of Bulacan and Pampanga provinces, as floodwater continued to rise this afternoon.
A report by radio dzMM said that floodwater at the boundary were already waist-deep and continues to rise as of this posting.
The report said that trucks and passenger buses could not cross the highway due to the strong current of the floodwater.
The report added that other parts of the highway, which were earlier free of flood, is now slowly being submerged by water coming Apalit town in Pampanga province.
Undersecretary Benito Ramos, head of the National Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said that rescue teams from the Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Coast Guard, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and two local government units from Metro Manila have dispatched teams to join rescue efforts for hundreds of residents trapped in Hagonoy and Calumpit towns.
Ramos said rescue teams from the military's side dispatched to Bulacan province include AFP's Disaster Rescue Task Force, Philippine Army, Philippine Navy and Philippine Marines.
He said that the PNP has also sent teams from its Public Safety Battalion and Maritime Group. The MMDA sent two teams with rubber boats have already arrived in the flooded province.
Meanwhile, he said the local governments of Pasay and Pasig cities have also sent rescue teams.
All teams carried with them rubber boats, which will be used to fetch residents in Calumpit and Hagonoy towns who have been trapped on their roofs since Thursday night.
He said four helicopters have also been dispatched to survey the flooded towns and look for trapped residents.
Philippine Red Cross (PRC) secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang said earlier that additional teams have been sent to the province to join the rescue efforts.
Reports said that more than 70 residents have been rescued by a military rescue team in Calumpit town.
Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado said that a total of 29 barangays in Calumpit and six more barangays in Hagonoy are submerged in roof-deep floodwater.
Radio reports said that hundreds of residents are either trapped on the second floor or the roofs of their houses.
Alvarado said that they have already ordered the forced evacuation of the residents in all areas affected by the massive flooding. However, several residents refused to be evacuated.
[PHOTO - A farmer in Malilipot, Albay salvages palay from his farm damaged by typhoon 'Pedring.' EDD GUMBAN]
Ramos said that the NDRRMC has also received reports that the town of Paombong was also flooded. He added that several towns in Pampanga, including Apaklit, Lubao and Candaba, were also swamped by floodwater.
The provinces of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija, which has been placed under a state of calamity, are also reeling from floods spawned by heavy rains brought on by Typhoon "Pedring" (Nesat).
Several areas in Luzon, particularly provinces located in the north, are also isolated due to floods and landslides that rendered several roads and bridges impassable.
Plea for rescue
Eva Enductivo, one of the residents trapped in Barangay Frances in Calumpit town, pleaded to be rescued from their house over radio dzMM.
"Gusto na rin po naming ma-rescue," she said.
The woman said that her family and several neighbors are trapped on their house's second floor.
Authorities have yet to determine if there are already fatalities.
Local authorities and affected residents, who were able to evacuate before the floodwaters rose to roof-deep, are blaming the release of water from the dams of Ipo and Angat.
Enductivo said they were not informed that the dams will release more water.
Luzon dams release water
Engr. Alex Palada, division manager of the National Power Corporation's flood forecasting and warning system, denied that the release of water from the dams are the is the main cause of the massive flooding in Bulacan.
Palada said that they are releasing 459 cubic meters of water per second from Angat Dam. He said that Angat Dam's water level as of 8 a.m. today was 213.26 meters, which is 3.26 meter higher than its normal water level of 210 meters above sea level.
He said that the main cause of flooding in Bulacan is the swelling of the Angat and Pampanga rivers. He added that Bulacan is a catch basin of floodwaters from Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Pampanga provinces, which were heavily flooded due to heavy rains brought on by Typhoon "Pedring."
Calumpit Mayor James de Jesus said that displaced residents have been forced to stay along McArthur Highway due to the lack of evacuation centers.
De Jesus said they are expecting the floods in the town and other areas in the province to rise further as two more storms are expected to bring heavy rains over Luzon during the weekend.
He said that Calumpit town is used to floods as it is a catch basin of water flowing from the upper provinces down to Manila Bay. However, he said that today's flooding was the worst in 40 years.
Even before the massive flooding took place, Calumpit town has been placed under a state of calamity due to the damages it suffered from the onslaught of "Pedring." Another town in Bulacan -- Obando -- is under a state of calamity.
Based on monitoring of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, three dams in Luzon, including Angat and Ipo dams, are already on spilling levels and a total of six dams are already releasing water.
Dam authorities said that the water releases are necessary and in preparation for the storms that are expected to hit land in northern Luzon.
'Quiel', 'Ramon'
PAGASA has raided public storm warning signal No. 2 over the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela as Typhoon "Quiel" approached the coastlines of northern Luzon.
Signal No. 1 is raised over Calayan and Babuyan group of islands, Apayao, Kalinga, Mt. Province, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan, Benguet, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Abra.
Majority of the provinces under storm alert have yet to recover from the devastation of Typhoon "Pedring" that dumped heavy rains and slammed strong winds into Luzon early this week, leaving more than 40 people dead and billions worth of crops and infrastructure damaged.
As of 10 a.m. today, Typhoon Quiel's center was estimated at 640 kilometers east of Tuguegarao City, packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 170 kph.
The storm was moving fast, westward, at a speed of 22 kph.
PAGASA said it expects the typhoon to make landfall by Saturday and may directly hit Cagayan. The typhoon may spare Metro Manila, the weather bureau added.
Meanwhile, weather forecasters said that while "Quiel" is approaching land, another storm that will be named "Ramon" will enter the Philippine area of responsibility.
Both weather disturbances are expected to enhance the southwest monsoon and will bring heavy rains over Luzon and the western part of Visayas.
Rains from the two storms are expected to swell water reserves in major dams in Luzon. -- Angelo L. Gutierrez
'Quiel' intensifies, enters Phl territory By Helen Flores (The Philippine Star) Updated September 30, 2011 12:00 AM
[PHOTO - A boy walks past the damaged railing of a bridge in Navotas City yesterday. A ship slammed into the bridge during a storm surge caused by typhoon 'Pedring' Tuesday. VAL RODRIGUEZ]
Tropical storm "Quiel" (international name Nalgae) intensified as it entered the Philippine area of responsibility before dawn yesterday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said.
If the storm maintains its present speed and direction, it would make landfall over the Cagayan-Batanes area by weekend, according to PAGASA supervising undersecretary Graciano Yumul.
As of 4 p.m., the center of Quiel was spotted at 1,040 kilometers east of Aparri, Cagayan, packing winds of 110 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 145 kph.
"Quiel is still too far to directly affect any part of the country," PAGASA said in an advisory issued earlier.
The storm was forecast to move west at 13 kph.
No storm warning signals have been raised as of yesterday morning.
Quiel is predicted to be 870 kms east of Aparri, Cagayan this morning; 560 kms east of Aparri by tomorrow morning and 260 kms east of Aparri by Sunday.
Yumul said a high-pressure area north of Luzon prevents Quiel from moving northward.
He said Quiel is expected to intensify into a typhoon while it hovers over the Pacific Ocean.
The approaching storm is also likely to enhance the southwest monsoon that would bring rains over most parts of Luzon, including Metro Manila, this weekend.
PAGASA said 15 to 25 millimeters per hour of rainfall is expected within the 300-km diameter of the storm.
Weather forecaster Aldzar Aurelio said Quiel is expected to reach typhoon intensity before hitting land.
He warned Quiel could be as strong as "Pedring" (Nesat), which battered several areas, including Metro Manila, last Tuesday, leaving over 39 people dead and over P1-billion worth of damage to property.
Increasing death toll
Authorities said the death toll would likely climb further with 30 others still missing two days after the storm walloped the country.
Office of Civil Defense (OCD) administrator Benito Ramos said that floodwaters had been slowly subsiding, although large areas remained submerged, particularly vast tracts of farmlands.
"We have (earlier) recorded 35 deaths, and rescuers are using rubber boats and canoes to help those in areas still flooded," Ramos said.
The death toll was 13 more than the last figure reported late Wednesday.
Ramos said soldiers, police and other rescue personnel had been working non-stop to help those affected, but with 30 people still listed as missing, the death toll would climb.
"Many are marooned on rooftops, mostly men folk who refused to join preemptive evacuations so they could guard their homes."
Ramos said many of the missing were fishermen who set sail ahead of the storm despite warnings to remain on land.
"We are just praying that we will find them still alive, but realistically speaking, the number of deaths may still rise," he said.
Television news broadcasts showed aerial footage of high water covering large areas of Central Luzon, more on the rice fields covering the provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Pampanga.
Many of those areas remained without power or cut off because highways and farms had been turned into virtual rivers.
Some people remained stranded in their homes, and rescue workers on boats went to retrieve them, although others preferred to stay to guard their properties.
"The floodwaters are going down, but very, very slowly, because much of these areas are flat, agricultural land," Ramos said.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported Pedring destroyed high value crops and infrastructure amounting to P3.428 billion.
Ramos ordered the preventive evacuation of residents along danger zones from Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Metro Manila.
He said the measures are in line with the continuing massive disaster preparations that have been activated before Pedring struck early this week.
"We still have a 48-hour window to evacuate residents living in the so-called danger zones before the landfall of tropical storm Quiel," he said.
Ramos said they are expecting Quiel to bring strong winds and heavy rains all over Luzon, including Metro Manila, as the incoming typhoon also has a 650-kilometer wide radius.
Quiel is expected to further aggravate the widespread flooding left by Pedring in low-lying areas of Metro Manila, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija in Central Luzon.
Most areas of Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela in Metro Manila and several towns and villages in Bulacan, Bataan and Nueva Ecija are still submerged in floodwaters as of yesterday.
The regional Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said a total of 32,582 families or 175,540 individuals in Central Luzon had been affected.
DSWD regional director Adelina Apostol said 246 barangays in 27 municipalities in Central Luzon were inundated by floodwaters.
Apostol said the hardest hit province in the region was Bulacan where 111 villages in its eight municipalities were affected with 10,649 families or 48,412 persons.
In terms of affected families, Apostol said Nueva Ecija has the highest with 12,851 families or 85,636 persons.
The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) in Central Luzon reported 13 people killed, seven missing, 534 totally damaged and 1,127 partially damaged houses in the region with at least P3.1-billion damage in agriculture.
Of the seven still missing, three of them were victims of yet another trash slide at a dumpsite in Barangay New Cabalan, Olongapo City.
The RDRRMC said rescuers were still digging for victims, including three who were identified as Eduardo Hummer Doesnt, Lanievie Ganseco and Shanaia Ganseco.
In La Union province in Region 1, a total of P87.2-million worth of rice crops was destroyed by the typhoon.
Nearly 170,000 people were in evacuation centers across Luzon, the NDRRMC added.
Amid the cleanup operations, authorities are bracing for Quiel with the possibility that it would follow the trail of destruction left by Pedring.
The worst so far
Pedring was one of the worst storms for the year largely due to an enormous rain band that pummeled virtually all of Luzon.
Manila was brought to a standstill on Tuesday as rain flooded large parts of the capital and storm surges smashed sea walls protecting the city's historic bayside area.
Residents in slums along Manila Bay continued to pick through rubble in the struggle to rebuild on Thursday, and officials said it would take many days to clear fallen trees, billboards and other debris across the city.
In the vast agricultural plains that stretch hundreds of kilometers in Luzon, farmers struggled to deal with the destruction of rice that was primed for harvest.
Adding to their woes, several villages in northern Luzon remained flooded due to the release of excess water from several dams in the region.
The towns of Enrile, Alcala, Solana and capital Tuguegarao City in Cagayan province remain flooded due to the continued release of water from Magat Dam.
Some 300 villages in Isabela, particularly in Ilagan, San Pablo, Cabagan and Tumauini, were still reeling from floodwaters.
Isabela has been placed under a state of calamity as a result of the widespread destruction to crops and infrastructure brought about by Pedring.
Most towns in Bulacan also remain flooded due to the release of excess water from several dams in the province.
In Pangasinan, the National Power Corp. announced they would open one gate at the San Roque Dam to accommodate the rainwater coming from incoming typhoon Quiel.
Tom Valdez, vice president of San Roque Power Corp., they have to release water dumped by typhoon Pedring to accommodate water that would be poured by Quiel.
Valdez said they have yet to determine the amount of rainfall from Quiel and the release of water is properly coordinated with different local government units along the Agno River.
Vice President Jejomar Binay, meanwhile, announced the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund would prioritize applications for calamity loans on families affected by typhoon Pedring.
Binay said the calamity loan program is open to active Pag-IBIG members who have made at least 24 monthly contributions who are residing in areas declared under a state of calamity by the local government unit or by the Office of the President.
Members with outstanding Multi-Purpose Loans (MPL) may still borrow under the program. However, their outstanding MPL balance will be deducted from the proceeds of their calamity loan.
Pag-IBIG Fund chief executive officer Darlene Marie Berberabe said the Fund is ready to deploy its employees to calamity-stricken areas, if necessary, to receive loan applications onsite.
Berberabe advised affected members to apply for loans immediately as the program has a prescriptive period of 90 days from the declaration of the state of calamity. –With Jaime Laude, Artemio Dumlao, Jerry Botial, Jose Rodel Clapano, Iris Gonzales, Eva Visperas, Manny Galvez, Jun Elias, Charlie Lagasca, Ric Sapnu, Dino Balabo, Ding Cervantes, Raymund Catindig
'Quiel' to spare Metro; 15 Luzon areas under storm signal By Angelo L. Gutierrez Home Updated September 30, 2011 11:46 AM 1 comment to this post
Typhoon Quiel (Nalgae) has gathered more strength and speed as it prepares to hit land over Cagayan province this weekend. Fifteen areas in Luzon have been placed under storm warning signal No. 1 and No. 2. (PAGASA's forecast track of Quiel)
Zoom MANILA, Philippines - The government's weather bureau raised storm warning alerts over 15 areas in the northern part of Luzon as Typhoon "Quiel" (Nalgae) intensified further this morning.
Public storm warning signal No. 2 was hoisted over Cagayan and Isabela province. Signal No. 1 is raised over Calayan and Babuyan group of islands, Apayao, Kalinga, Mt. Province, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan, Benguet, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Abra.
Majority of the provinces under storm alert have yet to recover from the devastation of Typhoon "Pedring" that dumped heavy rains and slammed strong winds over Luzon early this week, leaving more than 40 people dead and billions worth of crops and infrastructure damaged.
As of 10 a.m. today, the typhoon's center was estimated at 640 kilometers east of Tuguegarao City, packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 170 kph.
The storm was moving fast, westward, at a speed of 22 kph.
PAGASA said it expects the typhoon to make landfall this weekend, and may directly hit Cagayan. The typhoon may spare Metro Manila, the weather bureau added.
Meanwhile, weather forecasters said that while "Quiel" is approaching land, another storm that will be named "Ramon" will enter the Philippine area of responsibility this weekend or on Saturday.
Both weather disturbances are expected to enhance the southwest monsoon and will bring heavy rains over Luzon and the western part of Visayas.
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