‘Marce’ leaves eight dead

At least eight people were feared dead while three others were missing as heavy rains overnight caused by two typhoons triggered floods, landslides and a road crash yesterday in several parts of the country, civilian and police officials said.

A four-year-old boy is presumed dead after a landslide buried at least one house in San Mateo, Rizal, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) official Elena Aldea told local radio.

A landslide also hit Antipolo City but no one was killed. Residents recalled hearing a roar like thunder before managing to flee to safety. At least three people were slightly injured.

A girl drowned while two people are unaccounted for after they fell into a swollen creek in Sauyo in Novaliches, Quezon City.

In Magsingal town in Ilocos Sur, a car smashed into a bus after losing traction on a rain-slicked highway, police said. The car’s driver and his three companions were killed while eight bus passengers were hurt.

Floods meanwhile put many parts of Metro Manila under up to three feet of water, paralyzing traffic and forcing many schools to declare holidays, officials said.

But ecstatic children swam in the floodwaters, which were also several feet deep in nearby Rizal and Bulacan. Most major roads were closed to traffic in the two provinces.

Eight international flights to Taipei and a cargo flight — all originating from other countries — were diverted to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) due to the bad weather.

High winds stranded a domestic flight from Manila to Basco in Batanes.

A billboard crashed into overhead power lines, blacking out a section of Manila.

President Arroyo sent all government workers home at around noon except those engaged in emergency services.

The President canceled a planned town hall meeting in Pandacan, Manila and instead inspected flood-control projects in the capital.

The President, with Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando, inspected the nearby Pandacan pumping station — located just across Malacañang — where she was welcomed by the sight of tons of garbage pumped out and drained from the Pasig River.

Clad in a light blue raincoat and boots, the eyesore visibly dismayed Mrs. Arroyo.

The President declined to be interviewed by Palace reporters, saying it was best to ask Fernando about her directives on the flood situation.

The MMDA, which is tasked to solve the metropolis’ perennial flood problem, blamed yesterday’s massive inundation on the "unusually" heavy rainfall and uncollected garbage.

Fernando said he was instructed by the President to strictly enforce a "door-to-door" garbage collection policy.

"I was directed by the President to hire out-of-school youths for the purpose of implementing door-to-door garbage collection which is actually the most effective way of collecting garbage, instead of people bringing it to the main roads or throwing their garbage in creeks," he said.

Only less than half of the 17 localities in Metro Manila implement the door-to-door garbage collection, he said.

Fernando explained to the President that the flashfloods were largely due to the overflowing of the San Juan River, which had swelled by more than 150 millimeters early yesterday morning due to continuous rainfall.

As of 3 p.m. yesterday, a total of 81 inches of rainfall was recorded, according to Cesar Lacuna who is MMDA deputy chairman and concurrent chief of the flood control unit.

Television reports quoting the Pagasa weather bureau said the rainfall was equivalent to 135 million liters of water.

"It’s the first time we reached this level since the MMDA took over the flood control program two years ago," Lacuna said in an interview.

The weather bureau said typhoons Marce (international name Aere) and Chaba, both churning off the northeast coast of Luzon, enhanced the seasonal southwest monsoon.

The OCD, which is under the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), said it is also monitoring the swelling of six rivers in the northern Philippines, which threaten to inundate 29 towns and cities in Pangasinan.

In La Union, floodwaters stranded commuters on the streets, forced the suspension of classes and sent government workers home amid heavy rains in the past three days.

Municipal and city disaster officials were put on alert.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported that several roads were closed in Northern Luzon due to mudslides, including Kennon Road in Baguio City.

DPWH assistant secretary Manuel Agyao said roads in the Cordilleras, Ilocos Sur, Kalinga and Mountain Province had to be closed to traffic until these are cleared of debris.

Agyao also said field reports showed several roads are submerged in six to eight-inch deep waters in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Bulacan.

Despite torrential rains, the Philippine Coast Guard said everything remained normal in sea traffic.

There is no need yet to stop ships or boats from sailing, PCG commander Vice Admiral Arthur Gosingan said.

Stranded Students

The absence of a storm signal yesterday inconvenienced thousands of students as the "automatic default mechanism" of the Department of Education (DepEd) could not be used as basis for the suspension of classes.

The mechanism automatically suspends classes for elementary pupils once Storm Signal No. 1 is hoisted by Pagasa.

Suspension of classes in both grade school and secondary levels is enforced when there is Storm Signal No. 2 and college students automatically do not have classes under Storm Signal No. 3.

School principals are given the authority to decide whether to suspend classes but many of them failed to act quickly yesterday.

Students were already wading through floodwaters when most of the suspension orders were issued.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye reiterated directives for the suspension of classes in elementary and high school levels have been devolved to local government units.

The initiative, he said, must come from them and not from the DepEd as practiced in the past.

Meanwhile, among the passenger flights bound for Taipei that were diverted were China Airlines flight CI-656 and Eva Air flight BR-228 from Kuala Lumpur, two more Eva Air flights from Paris and Saigon and two from Indonesia, according to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).

Two Singapore Airlines flights from Singapore and Saigon were also diverted.

The cargo flight diverted to the NAIA was Federal Express cargo flight VFC-218 from Saigon.

In an advisory, the MIAA said a departing Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight PR-806 that was supposed to leave for Taiwan at 7 a.m. was stranded.

An arriving PAL flight PR-697 from Taiwan scheduled at 12:10 p.m. was also canceled.

An Asian Spirit flight that was to depart at 6 a.m. from Manila to Basco, Batanes and another flight scheduled to arrive at 8 a.m. from Basco were canceled.

Metro Wide Damage

In Metro Manila, high-water floodwater levels displaced several families in low-lying districts and stranded commuters in flood-prone areas.

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said families living along Geronimo steet in Sampaloc were taken to a temporary evacuation center in two schools.

The flooding was caused by a creek that overflowed, he said.

Police said floodwater in several areas in Manila rose to levels which made many streets impassable to light vehicles.

Floodwater with waist-high levels was recorded in Tayuman, Abad Santos and Pampanga, España, Makiling, Blumentritt, Laon-Laan, Dapitan, Simon, Calamba, Maria Clara, Mendiola Extension and Pandacan.

The OCD said two missing men identified as Franklin Castro and Joey Patugulan of Bago-Bantay in Quezon City fell into a creek and went missing after the strong water current swept them between 8 and 9 a.m.

Search and rescue efforts were hampered as waters continued to rise in the Bago-Bantay creek.

Six children were also reported to have been trapped inside their house amid rising waters in Barangay Apolonio Samson on Kaingin Road also in Quezon City. As of yesterday afternoon, one of the kids reportedly drowned.

Military and civilian rescuers were dispatched to rescue the children.

An unidentified girl was also confirmed to have drowned in a creek in Barangay Sauyo although her body was reportedly recovered in Barangay Apolonio Samson. The circumstances surrounding her death were not immediately available.

Her body was brought to the San Fernando Funeral Homes, according to social welfare officer Cynthia Oria.

Two more children reportedly drowned in Barangay Sauyo and one of the bodies was supposedly retrieved, but officials have yet to confirm this.

Two other people were rescued from drowning in a creek but their names were not made available as of press time.

Over 2,000 families were evacuated to higher grounds. Social workers of the Quezon City Hall continued rationing food and relief operations to 15 barangays affected by the heavy downpour.

Meanwhile, reports reaching the Quezon City Hall said a tree was uprooted while phone cable wires sagged along the street due to strong winds.

The fallen tree along the Balara-Katipunan Road briefly caused a traffic jam in the area, while cables sprawled on a side road in Project 3 made the street impassable to motorists.

In San Mateo, Rizal, four-year-old Jeremy Laurio was feared to have drowned when he was swept by cascading waters while trying to run from a landslide.

Rescuers were searching for the boy in the Uri River in Barangay Silangan where he was said to have been last seen. The river was already swollen due to torrential rains all night.

Two houses, including where the boy lives, were buried by the landslide.

Rizal police director Senior Superintendent Leo Santiago said two houses were partially damaged when a landslide hit a residential area in Barangay Silangan in San Mateo.

At least 700 families from low-lying areas in San Mateo were evacuated to Barangays Malanday and Sto. Niño as floodwaters submerged their homes.

A landslide in Barangay De la Paz in nearby Antipolo City destroyed a house. Its occupants evacuated in time to escape being buried alive, Santiago said.

Some 400 families in two low-lying areas in Marikina City were also moved to higher grounds amid the overflowing of Marikina river.

A number of establishments and a restaurant located at the lower portion of the River Park were submerged in floodwaters while the Tumana Bridge was rendered impassable to all types of vehicles.

A number of houses were also submerged in Barangay Tumana.

In Caloocan City, residents in low-lying areas were trapped on the roofs of their homes due to massive flooding, said National Capital Region Command (NCRCom) chief of operations Lt. Col. Domingo Tuaan.

Tuaan said an Air Force UH-1H rescue helicopter from the 505th Rescue Group was dispatched to assist in the evacuation of the marooned residents.

The NCRCom also sent eight of its M35s military trucks, two amphibian trucks and two rubber boats to assist affected families in Caloocan City.

The OCD reported that about 1,360 families mostly from Caloocan City and Quezon City have been evacuated. They were provided with food and medical supplies.

In the flood-prone Camanava area (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela), waters rose up to the chest forcing local officials to suspend classes in public and private schools.

Murky waters submerged the Kaunlaran Elementary School in Dagat-Dagatan and the overcrowded Caloocan City Jail.

At least five families were evacuated in Barangay 49 in 5th Avenue, Caloocan among other barangays badly affected by the flooding.

Eight of Malabon’s 21 barangays suffered massive flooding. These were Barangays Tugatog, Tonsuya, Tinajeros, Taniong, Santolan, Catmon, Concepcion and Niogan.

In the neighboring municipality of Navotas, three of its 14 barangays were worse-hit by floodwaters namely, North Bay Boulevard South, Daang Hari and San Jose.

Vehicles were stranded for several hours in the border of Valenzuela City and Malabon when the Tullahan River overflowed onto the Tullahan Bridge that connects the two cities.

At least three shanties in Sitio Kabatuhan in Gen. T. De Leon were destroyed when a concrete wall of a construction site in the area collapsed on them at the height of heavy rains at around 10 a.m. No one was reported hurt.

In southern Metro Manila, the heavy rains resulted in successive vehicular accidents while residents near Laguna Bay expressed concern over a water spill.

In a span of one hour, three vehicular accidents were reported in Taguig amid slippery roads. No serious injury was reported.

Residents in Barangay Napindan in Taguig meanwhile said they were concerned over floodwaters that had peaked at three feet near the Laguna Bay area. - With reports from AFP, Non Alquitran, Jaime Laude, Sandy Araneta, Marichu Villanueva, Nikko Dizon, Nestor Etolle, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Pete Laude, Katherine Adraneda, Edu Punay, Jose Aravilla, Rainier Allan Ronda, Jerry Botial, Vic Alhambra Jr.