Lightning knocks out NAIA radar

MANILA, Philippines - The torrential rains and floods spawned by Tropical Storm Mario forced the cancellation of several flights as lightning knocked out the approach radar at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) yesterday. 

Thousands of passengers were also stranded in sea terminals in the provinces.

Officials said seven international flights were diverted to Cebu International Airport and Clark International Airport, while 82 domestic flights were canceled.

The NAIA radar was struck by lightning at dawn as visibility became poor on the approach to Manila.

Five of the flights diverted to Cebu were China Eastern flight MU-2011 from Pudong, Shanghai; Jetstar flight 3K 763 and Cebu Pacific flight 5J-752 from Singapore, one Cebu Pacific flight from Siem Reap, Cambodia; and another Cebu Pacific flight from Pudong.

The two flights diverted to Clark International Airport were Tiger Air flight TR 2728 from Singapore and China Airlines flight C1-711 from Taipei.

Seventy domestic flights remained stranded at the NAIA Terminals 3 and 4 due to poor visibility and heavy rains at their destinations, officials said.

The Philippine Coast Guard reported a total of 2,480 passengers were stranded in the ports of National Capital Region, Central Visayas, Southern Tagalog, Western Visayas and Bicol provinces.

The Coast Guard rescued 47 passengers and crew of a motorized boat that ran aground in Cebu.

On the other hand, 13 passengers of a boat that capsized off Pilar, Sorsogon were rescued by the Coast Guard at the height of the monsoon rains induced by Mario yesterday.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported 94,747 families or 436,539 persons were affected by the continued heavy rains brought by Mario.

The DSWD said as many as 146 evacuation centers have gone up in several regions across Luzon as Mario inundated entire neighborhoods and suburbs in Central and Southern Luzon, Bicol, Central Visayas and Metro Manila.

In Metro Manila, from 16 evacuation centers that were monitored open at 10 a.m., the number went up to 113 providing temporary shelter to 10,320 families or 51,772 persons.

Twelve of the 17 local government units in Metro Manila have evacuation centers. Quezon City, Caloocan and Marikina have the most number, with 22 evacuation centers each.

Quezon City served 317 families or 1,583 persons, four in Manila housing 410 families or 2,050 persons, and two in Marikina City with 126 families or 630 persons.

In Rizal province, four evacuation centers are serving 385 families or 1,925 persons.

In Central Luzon, 16 evacuation centers are serving 963 families or 3,629 persons.

In Southern Luzon, seven evacuation centers are providing shelter to 1,762 families or 5,360 persons.

Bicol region has five evacuation centers serving 164 families and Central Visayas also has five serving 38 families.

The torrential rains also forced the evacuation of 1,598 families from the five towns of Rizal under threat of landslides.

Several towns in Bulacan, including San Jose del Monte, were flooded, affecting at least 131 families, officials said.

Among the flooded towns were Bocaue, Sta. Maria, Marilao and Meycauyan.

In Marilao, some 374 people from the villages of Sta. Rosa and Poblacion have been evacuated.

Some 30 families were also evacuated in Barangay Tambubong in Bocaue.

The floods also rendered several roads in Bulacan and Pampanga impassable to all types of vehicles.

In Pampanga, the Candaba-San Miguel and the Candaba-Baliwag roads were not passable to all types of vehicles.

In Marilao, the portion of MacArthur Highway at SM City mall was not passable to all types of vehicles, as well as the roads in barangays Sta. Rosa, Abangan and Tabing-Ilog.

The province of Bulacan was placed under red alert by the state weather bureau.

Also placed under red alert are Metro Manila, Laguna, Rizal, Cavite and Batangas.

Areas under the red rainfall alert experienced more than 30 millimeters of rain in the past hour and the downpour is expected to continue in the next two hours. Severe flooding is expected in low-lying areas.

Elsewhere, the provinces of Quezon, Pampanga, Zambales and Bataan were placed under orange rainfall alert (intense).

The town of Adams in Ilocos Norte has been completely isolated by landslides caused by the continuous heavy rains.

On the other hand, the two gates of the Binga Dam in Bokod, Benguet were opened Friday as it approached critical level with the rains brought by Mario.

Binga Dam has reached 574.74 meters, less than a meter from its 575-meter critical level, while Ambuklao Dam has reached 750.53 meters, only 1.5 meters from its 752-meter critical level.

San Roque Dam is still at 267.31 meters, way below its 290-meter critical level.

The water level at the Angat Dam in Bulacan was at 192 meters, still below the spilling level of 210 meters, while Ipo Dam was at 100.76 meters, slightly below spilling level.

The Bustos Dam was at 17.58 meters, also slightly below the 17.70-meter spilling level.

Two gates of the Bustos Dam were opened yesterday to allow excess water discharge at the rate of 145.9 cubic meters per second. – Rudy Santos, Evelyn Macairan, Rainier Allan Ronda, Ding Cervantes, Ric Sapnu, Raymund Catindig, Francis Elevado, Eva Visperas, Roel Pareño, Artemio Dumlao, Ariel Paolo Tejada, Celso Amo, Ed Amoroso, Charlie Lagasca