Ulysses batters Southern, Central Luzon

MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon Ulysses battered Southern and Central Luzon on Wednesday night until yesterday morning, dumping heavy rains that caused flash floods that submerged parts of eastern Metro Manila, Rizal and Bulacan and also affected Quezon and Bicol.

Ulysses (international name Vamco) killed 13 people while scores remained missing and thousands were evacuated from their homes.

Five persons died while nine others are still missing when a landslide struck a mining village in Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya at the height of the storm.

Police identified one of the fatalities as Julie Ann Tanasa, 15, who was sleeping with her mother when the landslide occurred in Sitio Kinalabasa in Barangay Runruno at around 2 a.m.

Maj. Jesus Ventura, Quezon town police chief said two more male bodies were recovered in Sitio Compound 1 while another two male bodies, covered with mud, were seen in Sitio Bit-ang, also in Runruno.

Police said authorities are now conducting search and rescue operations.

Three persons died after a warehouse that is being constructed in Dasmariñas, Cavite collapsed as Ulysses battered the province.

Police identified the fatalities as Romeo Cabanillas, Annabel Cabanillas and their son Angelo Rome Cabanillas – all of whom were living near the construction site in Purok 4, Barangay Langkaan 1.

According to Dasmariñas Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, they were brought to a hospital where they were declared dead on arrival.

A certain Jomer Blesario was rescued from the rubble at 10:32 a.m. and has been receiving treatment.

Police said nine other construction workers were injured.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Bicol identified the two fatalities as Avelino Cabanela, 68, of Barangay Bagasbas, Daet; and Salva Mangubat, 70, of Barangay Gabon, Talisay, both in Camarines Norte. Cabanela was believed electrocuted while fixing the roof of his house while Mangubat slid and hit her head on the wet floor inside her house.

Reported missing were Jessy Boy Alvarez, 33; Roland Alvarez, 48; and Bobby Roderick Masaya,19; all of Barangay Pinagtigasan, Vinzons; and Noel Macayo, of Barangay 2 in Mercedes, all in Camarines Norte.

A 27-year-old worker drowned in Angadanan, Isabela during the onslaught of the typhoon yesterday.

Isabela police director Col. Cipriano Melad said Mark Angelo Atabug was killed when the bunkhouse where construction workers were sleeping was swept by a nearby swollen creek.

Atabug’s body was recovered in Barangay Dicamay 1 in Jones.

In Atok, Benguet, a 60-year-old man was killed when his house was crushed by a fallen column of bamboos at the height of the storm in Busoc, Poblacion yesterday morning.

Police identified the fatality as Felix Boguite.

Floods that reached the second floor of houses trapped residents on rooftops in some areas in Marikina, Cainta and Rodriguez in Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga and Quezon province.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said their 24-hour rainfall monitoring showed that the weather station in Tanay, Rizal recorded peak volume of 356 millimeters.

This was followed by Daet, Camarines Norte with 271 mm of rainfall.

PAGASA said that this is lower compared to Tropical Storm Ondoy, which recorded a peak of 455 mm of rainfall in 24 hours at the Science Garden weather station in Quezon City.

Ondoy’s overnight rains in September 2009 also caused flash floods that inundated eastern Metro Manila and displaced hundreds of thousands of residents.

PAGASA noted that it is possible that Super Typhoon Rolly which devastated parts of Southern Luzon last Nov. 1, and other previous storms saturated the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, when Ulysses triggered more rains and flash floods in low-lying areas.

Several dams including Angat, Ipo, La Mesa, Ambulao, Binga, San Roque and Magat that were in the path of Ulysses released water and affected nearby towns.

Magat dam in the Cagayan River basin opened six gates with an outflow of 989 cubic meters, while Ambuklao and Banga dams in the Agno River basin opened six and eight gates each, with outflow of 557.38 cubic meters and 494.71 cubic meters per second.

The opening of these dams affected areas in Bulacan, Pangasinan, Benguet and Isabela.

Flood bulletins were up for the river basins of Cagayan, Bicol, Pampanga, Agno and the Pasig-Marikina-Tullahan basin.

The average basin rainfall was 234 mm in the Pasig-Marikina river, especially upstream.

This comes as Ulysses had made initial landfall at the vicinity of Patnanungan, Quezon at 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday. It made second and third landfall in Bordeo and General Nakar, Quezon at 11:20 p.m. and 1:40 a.m. yesterday.

The storm exited Philippine landmass yesterday morning and was spotted about 85 kilometers west of Zambales by 10 p.m.

It had maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 200 kph.

The typhoon, expected to be outside the Philippine area of responsibility by this morning, also prompted the Philippine Stock Exchange to cancel trading.

House to house

The Philippine Coast Guard and local officials deployed motorboats and distributed life vests as rescuers swam house-to-house in search of trapped residents in Rodriguez, Rizal.

In Cainta, the disaster management office cited difficulty in going to places inundated by heavy floods due to strong currents.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) reported that 50 areas in the five geographical districts of Metro Manila were flooded.

Hundreds of police officers were also deployed in evacuation centers to ensure the safety of evacuees from risks brought by the typhoon as well as enforce the safety protocols to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease in crowded evacuation centers.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) deployed emergency response and search and rescue units to assist in typhoon-affected areas.

“We continue to maintain coordination with National Capital Region local government units, the MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority), and other national government agencies in closely monitoring the situation in critical areas,” AFP spokesperson Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said.

He said that they have instructed all teams to coordinate with the local government agencies and their respective disaster risk reduction management offices for more efficient deployment.

In Quezon, flash floods hit several villages in Catanauan, Tagkawayan, Buenavista and Lopez towns.

Gov. Danilo Suarez reported that more than 7,000 families were evacuated in the towns of Lopez, Tagkawayan, Calauag, San Andres, San Narciso, General Luna, Burdeos, Macalelon, and Polillo Island.

In Bicol, at least 180,591 persons were evacuated and brought to government relief centers and private houses when Ulysses battered the region with winds reaching 130 kph and gustiness of up to 200 kph.

Some 938 passengers, 255 trucks, 44 light vehicles and 51 sea vessels were stranded in various ports.

Due to heavy rains and already saturated soil, landslides occurred in Bulusan, Sorsogon; Ragay and Sipocot, in Camarines Sur; and Paracale in Camarines Norte. Some 37 towns in Bicol experienced flooding.

Flash floods rendered impassable the Pili-Tigaon-Albay boundary road in Barangay Talojongan, Tigaon; Goa-Digdigon-San Isidro Road in Barangay San Juan Bautista in Goa; and Presentacion-Maligaya Road in Barangay Pili in Presentacion; and the Daang Maharlika in Calagbangan in Sipocot, due to fallen trees, all in Camarines Sur.

Toppled electric poles also rendered people without electricity in Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte and Albay.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) suspended all flight operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport between midnight until 6 a.m yesterday as the typhoon passed near Metro Manila.

MIAA general manager Ed Monreal advised passengers to immediately coordinate with their airlines for flight updates.

Airlines were also told to make sure that their customer service hotlines are ready to take in the expected surge of calls from passengers.

As part of their contingency, AirAsia transferred some of their planes out of Manila while Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific employed ballasting of their fleet to ensure their stability while on ground.

Philippine Airlines earlier issued several flight cancellations for today and tomorrow. All Nippon Airways and Untied Airlines have likewise cancelled their flights which are scheduled to arrive tonight.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said the Clark International Airport in Pampanga also suspended operations, but was lifted at noon yesterday.

CAAP said the Plaridel Airport in Bulacan sustained mild flooding in its apron, while cracked door panels and water leakages were reported on its tower building due to storm surges.

The airport facility experienced power interruption around 4:45 a.m. on Thursday. – Neil Jayson Servallos, Rey Galupo, Rudy Santos, Richmond Mercurio, Louise Maureen Simeon, Victor Martin, Cet Dematera, Raymund Catindig, Michelle Zoleta, Artemio Dumlao, Ed Amoroso