Storm Mario batters Ilocos

MANILA, Philippines - After battering Metro Manila, Tropical Storm Mario pummeled the Ilocos Region the whole day yesterday with strong winds and heavy rains, triggering another round of mass evacuation and destruction to agricultural crops.

Flashfloods hit the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan and La Union, according to various reports from the region’s Office of Civil Defense.

Ilocos Norte was placed under a state of calamity. The provincial board made the declaration in an emergency session to fast-track the release of funds needed for relief operations, the Provincial Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) announced yesterday.

More than P20 million worth of damage in agriculture has been recorded so far by the PDRRMC.

“Almost nothing is left standing of the rice and garlic scheduled for harvesting,” said Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos in a radio broadcast yesterday afternoon.

Marcos said that it had been raining heavily in Ilocos Norte for more than 10 hours. The province is also without electricity from Friday night until yesterday due to toppled electrical posts and the snapping of power transmission lines.

There were also reports that an Army base in Narvacan town in Ilocos Norte was hit by the flooding, trapping the soldiers who were supposed to be deployed for rescue operations in the flooded barangays.

Major roads in Region 1 are not passable to all types of vehicles.

In Ilocos Sur, affected areas are the junction of Narvacan town and portions of Sta. Maria town and Candon City.

In Ilocos Norte, not passable are the bridges in Barangay Pansian in Pagudpod, while in La Union sections of Luna and Bangar towns are under water.

Dagupan City, one of the most affected areas in the province of Pangasinan, was also placed under a state of calamity because many barangays are flooded.

In Luna town in La Union, six villages are submerged.

The province of Bulacan was also hard hit by Mario. As of yesterday, at least 48 villages in six municipalities and two cities in Bulacan were submerged in floodwaters, the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC 3) said.

The RDRRMC 3 said severe flooding swept through 11 villages in Meycauayan City, six villages in San Jose del Monte City, eight in the town of Calumpit, seven each in Sta. Maria and Obando, six in Marilao, and three in Bocaue.

Disaster authorities are still tallying the number of flooded areas in the towns of Norzagaray, Bustos, Baliwag and Balagtas.

Hardest hit were Meycauayan City and the towns of Marilao, Calumpit and Bocaue, where several villages were inundated under two to four feet of rampaging floods at the height of the storm. Heavy rains also triggered a landslide in the mountain town of Norzagaray.

At least 2,562 families, or 12,786 persons, in the towns of Sta. Maria, Bocaue, Baliwag, Bustos, Norzagaray, Balagtas, Obando, Calumpit and in the cities of Meycauayan and San Jose del Monte were evacuated to different evacuation centers.

Bulacan Gov. Wilhemino Alvarado said emergency rescue units were also dispatched to the coastal towns of Hagonoy and Calumpit, the perennial catch basins of floods from Pampanga and Nueva Ecija and waters released from Ipo and Bustos dams.

Alvarado said local authorities are closely monitoring the effects of floodwaters cascading towards Calumpit and Hagonoy because Ipo and Bustos dams have released excess water. With Czerina Valencia, Pia Lee-Brago, Ric Sapnu, Ariel Paolo Tejada, Eva Visperas, Jun Elias, Vic Alhambra Jr.