MANILA, Philippines - Nine persons, including a newborn infant, were killed when a landslide buried three houses in Barangay Commowealth in Quezon City yesterday morning at the height of the continuous rains that started last Sunday.
Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Chief Superintendent Mario de la Vega said the youngest fatality was one-month-old Jonica Castulo.
QCPD deputy director for operations Senior Superintendent Joel Pagdilao said the infant died with her siblings Jonathan, 3; Joshua, 2; and their mother Jessica, 23.
Pagdilao identified the other victims as Cecilia, 49; Jayvee, 20; Jethro, 18; Jason, 14; and Jessie Lee Joy, 6, all surnamed Baylon.
Rescuers recovered survivors Lydia Lyn Simbulan, 40; Maria Leslyn Simbulan, 21; and Jesie Baylon Jr., 24, who were brought to East Avenue Medical Center for treatment.
Pagdilao said the houses of the victims were built near the foot of a hilly portion of the community along Bayanihan street near Litex Road.
Because of the continuous rains that pounded Metro Manila overnight, the soil from the hilly side caved in on their houses.
According to Pagdilao, there were hundreds of houses in the area, but the landslide buried only three houses.
Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome went to the site to oversee the rescue operations.
Bartolome said he has ordered the QCPD to ensure that the remaining families were evacuated from the area in case another landslide occurs.
Pagdilao said families on top of the area that collapsed and those surrounding the homes of the three affected households had been told to leave.
Meanwhile, a security guard was electrocuted while wading at the corner of flooded Araneta Avenue and Bayani street in Barangay Doña Imelda, Quezon City, at around 7 a.m. yesterday.
Benjie Dumancil, 22, who was assigned at the Land Bank of the Philippines branch, had just arrived home from work when the accident happened.
A man was also electrocuted after he climbed the roof of a house in Parañaque City last Monday night. The victim was identified as Sherwin Quijote of Barangay San Dionisio.
The QCPD said more than 28,000 persons were evacuated from flooded areas in the city. The continuous rains brought by the southwest monsoon have also flooded several areas in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said flooded areas were reported in Manila, Taguig, Pasig, Makati, Taguig, Muntinlupa, Pasay, Parañaque, Valenzuela City, Navotas, Marikina City, Malabon, Las Piñas, San Juan, and Quezon City.
Officials of Marikina City ordered the forced evacuation of residents beside the Marikina River that had breached the critical level of 23 meters, threatening Provident Village that was swamped during the flashfloods caused by tropical storm “Ondoy” in 2009.
Marikina City Vice Mayor Jose Fabian Cadiz said more than 17,000 residents were evacuated and transferred to 16 evacuation centers.
Barangays Tumana and Malanday are under three- to four-meter deep floodwaters, Cadiz said.
Floodwaters had also flowed into the underground parking of SM Marikina.
In Quezon City, low-lying areas in Roxas District, Barangays Sto. Domingo, Damayang Lagi, Barangay Sta. Lucia in North Fairview and in the lower area of San Francisco del Monte were flooded, with waters as high as the rooftop of houses. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday deployed rubber boats to rescue residents stranded in the flooded areas in the metropolis.
MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino reported to President Aquino during a briefing at the NDRRMC in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City that rubber boats were deployed to Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela, Marikina City, Quezon City, Las Piñas City, and Pateros.
“We are conducting sporadic rescue operations using our meager resources,” said Tolentino. Tolentino said.
Although the rubber boats were initially deployed to the eastern portions of Metro Manila, some of these were recalled and re-deployed for flood rescue operations in Malabon, and at barangays Talayan and Damayang Lagi in Quezon City.
“Rubber boats all deployed but still lacking,” Tolentino reported to the President.
Tolentino has already recalled to active duty some 1,000 volunteers of the MMDA who were trained in emergency operations.
Tolentino said the recalled volunteers would be joining the reservist group of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in conducting recue operations.
San Juan Vice Mayor Francis Zamora said nine barangays in San Juan City were submerged by floodwaters: Balong-Bato, Batis, Rivera, Progreso, Salapan, San Perfecto, Ermitanyo, Kabayanan and Maytunas.
The MMDA reported the flooded areas in Quezon City included Masaya St.-Philcoa (not passable to all vehicles), Capitol Balara, eastbound (about 20 cm deep), Ortigas POEA southbound, C4-Lascano (95 cm deep), Victory St.-Araneta Avenue, Barangay Sto. Domingo. Quezon Avenue-Maria Clara St., the area of SM Sucat in Parañaque City (waist deep), Maysilo Circle in Mandaluyong City (not passable to all vehicles), Teneros-Malabon City, Quirino-Sauyo Road (not passable to all vehicles), North Luzon Expressway-Balintawak (not passable to all vehicles), South Superhighway-Buendia Avenue-Dela Rosa St. in Makati (not passable to all vehicles); Barangay Tatalon in Quezon City (not passable to all vehicles), BBB-McArthur Road (not passable to all vehicles), Quezon Avenue-Delta-Scout Chuatoco (not passable to all vehicles), EDSA-Quezon Avenue service road (not passable to all vehicles).
The MMDA also closed to traffic the EDSA-Aurora and EDSA-P. Tuazon underpasses.
The flooded areas in Manila were the San Marcelino-Taft area (not passable to all vehicles), Burgos-Finance Manila City Hall area (not passable to all types), Mendiola (not passable to all vehicles), V. Mapa-Old Sta. Mesa and Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard.
The MMDA also lifted the vehicle number coding yesterday for the entire Metro Manila.
Meanwhile, 13 areas in Makati City were also placed on flood watch yesterday by the city government. Among those flooded were barangays Cembo, Rizal, San Antonio, Pembo, Bangkal and Palanan.
In Barangay Rizal, 35 families were evacuated after the flood reached 95 cm. In Barangay Bangkal, 18 families were evacuated.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) deployed troops and equipment in flooded areas in Metro Manila. Two officers and 25 enlisted personnel were deployed with two M-35 trucks, one rescue truck, one Toyota Surf, two rubber boats and three outboard motors to assist residents in the flood-stricken Barangay Muñoz, Quezon City.
Troops on rubber boats were also dispatched to conduct transport assistance in Malabon and Caloocan.
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) on the other hand, deployed two transport trucks along Taft Avenue to ferry stranded passengers while troops from the Regional Community Defense Group were dispatched to Las Piñas to conduct rescue assistance to include those in Sucat, Parañaque.
Outside of Metro Manila, troops from the 7th Infantry Division are now conducting rescue operations in flood-stricken areas in Pampanga and Bulacan.
AFP chief Gen. Jessie Dellosa said that he had already alerted all troops in the monsoon hit provinces of Zambales, Bataan and Pangasinan to conduct disaster response in coordination with local government units.
Forced evacuation in Marikina
More than 10,000 people were evacuated from their flooded communities near the Marikina River in Marikina City.
Marikina Mayor Del de Guzman ordered the forced evacuation of residents in low-lying areas, especially in the riverbanks after weather bureau officials reported that rains were expected to continue until last night.
Police rescued at least 1,000 residents who were stranded on their roofs in the flooded Barangay Tumana in Marikina.
Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Miguel Laurel said the rescue operation is still ongoing. “Some people don’t want to leave their houses. What we are doing is rescuing those who are already on their rooftops and they are cooperating fully,” said Laurel.
Laurel said elements of the EPD’s district public safety battalion and the Marikina City police, using rubber boats, along with elements of the city’s Rescue 161, conducted the rescue efforts.
Some 167 families were brought to the evacuation center at the Concepcion Integrated School, 162 families at the Bulelak covered court, 675 families at the H. Bautista Elementary School, 401 at the Malanday Elementary School, 12 at the Concepcion Elementary School, 5 at the Sta. Elena Chapel, 469 at the Nangka Elementary School, 84 at the Filipinas Village Gym; 95 at the Sampaguita Gym, 170 at the Sto. Niño Elementary School and Leodegario Victorino Elementary School with 95.
The water level at the Marikina River reached 20 meters at around 2:30 p.m. yesterday and city officials advised residents in other low-lying areas to evacuate to higher grounds.
A stream gauge installed under the Marikina Bridge in Barangay Sto. Nio measures the river’s water level.
The first alarm was sounded at 15 meters, the second alarm at 16 meters, and at 17 meters was the 3rd alarm. The 4th alarm was sounded at 18 meters and a forced evacuation is being conducted in the low-lying areas near the river. Engineer Albert Paredes, head of the Pasay City Disaster and Risk Management Task Force, said at least six barangays were affected when the Maricaban River overflowed.
He said as of yesterday afternoon, city rescue teams were using wooden boats to reach stranded residents in their houses.
He said the affected barangays are located in Tramo, Malibay and Baclaran areas.
In Las Piñas city, villages along the Zapote River were also affected by flooding and hundreds of residents were evacuated to higher areas, said Jimmy Castillano, the city public information officer.
He said major roads in the city were also flooded, stranding motorists in the area.
Manila Police District (MPD) Public Information Office (PIO) head Chief Inspector Erwin Margarejo said 295 families were evacuated from Smokey Mountain.
Margarejo said 300 families were evacuated from Barangay 598 to the Baseco covered court.
Authorities also warned motorists not to pass flooded portions of Taft Avenue and Roxas Boulevard.
The RDRRMC said 13,543 families or 51,523 persons have evacuated from flooded areas in 11 towns in Pampanga, three towns in Bulacan, and two towns in Tarlac.
The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) said that floodwaters have rendered impassable portions of MacArthur Highway in Marilao and Meycauayan in Bulacan and in Guagua, Macabebe and Minalin in Pampanga.
Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda placed her province under a state of calamity yesterday.
Pineda said at least 10 towns in Pampanga were flooded: Masantol, Macabebe, Apalit, San Simon, Candaba, San Luis, Lubao, Guagua, Floridablanca, and Santo Tomas.
The provincial council of Bataan declared the province under a state of calamity due to the floods.
Hundreds of residents were evacuated last Monday night in flooded areas in Orion, Pilar and Balanga City.
John Rey Amado of the Balanga City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 135 families were displaced in barangays Cupang, Camacho, Central, San Jose, Lima, Talisay and Tuyo and evacuated to safer grounds.
Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane said many roads were flooded and closed to traffic. Portions of Govic Highway were flooded. Officials said some towns were also flooded in Subic, San Antonio, San Marcelino, and San Narciso.
In Olongapo City, flashfloods occurred along the Sta. Rita, Mabayuan and Kalaklan Riverside. Hardest hit by the rising floodwaters are barangays Banicain, Kababae, Kalalake, Pag Asa, East Tapinac Sta. Rita, lower Mabayuan, lower Kalaklan, New Ilalim, East and West Bajac-Bajac.
Most of the city’s central business district was flooded.
Benguet is the hardest hit among the provinces in the Cordillera, with damage to crops and infrastructure estimated at P1.9 million.
Floods rendered the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) non-passable to vehicular traffic for hours yesterday due to heavy rains brought by the southwest monsoon.
Francisco Dagohoy, public relations specialist of the Traffic Management Corp. (TMC) that operates the NLEX, said the northbound and southbound lanes of the expressway were closed to all vehicles starting at 10 a.m. yesterday.
He said that the northbound lane was reopened to trucks and other large vehicles before 2 p.m.
“Only trucks and buses were allowed because there are parts that are still flooded,” Dagohoy said.
Floodwaters along the expressway reached chest-deep between Valenzuela City and the Balintawak toll plazas.
Dagohoy said that rivers and creeks in Valenzuela City overflowed due to heavy rains that started over the weekend. With Non Alquitran, Perseus Echeminada, Sandy Araneta, Ding Cervantes, Eva Visperas, Dino Balabo, Artemio Dumlao, Bebot Sison, Jerry Botial, Jose Rodel Clapano, Alexis Romero, AP