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Thousands stranded by Philippine flooding; 5 die
2009-09-26
MANILA, Philippines - Nearly a month's worth of rain fell in six hours Saturday as Tropical Storm Ketsana slammed ashore in the Philippines, killing five people and stranding thousands on rooftops in the capital's worst flooding in more than 42 years. The government declared a "state of calamity" in metropolitan Manila and about two dozen storm-hit provinces, said Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, who heads the National Disaster Coordinating Council. That allows officials to withdraw emergency money for relief and rescue. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had to take an elevated commuter train to the disaster council office to preside over a meeting because roads were clogged by vehicles stuck in the floodwaters. Two people were reported killed in suburban Muntinglupa and three others in Quezon city, said deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez. He gave no details. The mayor of Cainta in nearby Rizal province, who was stranded atop a dump truck on a road that was neck-deep in water, told ABS-CBN television by phone that many residents climbed onto roofs to escape. "The whole town is almost 100 percent underwater," Mayor Mon Ilagan said. About 13.4 inches (34.1 centimeters) of rain fell on metropolitan Manila in just six hours, close to the 15.4-inch (39.2-centimeter) average for the entire month of September. The previous record was 13.2 inches (33.4 centimeters) recorded during a 24-hour period in June 1967, chief government weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said. "However good your drainage system is, it will be overwhelmed by that amount of rainfall," he told The Associated Press. He said poor maintenance of drains and waterways clogged with garbage compounded the problem. ABS-CBN television showed a dramatic video of more than a dozen people perched on roofs of damaged houses being swept away by the suburban Marikina River. They smashed against the pillars of a bridge and were separated from each other in the rampaging river. It was unclear whether they were rescued. Cruz said seasonal monsoon rains were intensified by Tropical Storm Ketsana, which packed winds of 53 mph (85 kph) with gusts of up to 63 mph (100 kph) when it hit land early Saturday about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Manila. It was moving westward toward the rice-producing Central Luzon region at 12 mph (19 kph). Stranded residents called radio and television stations for help. Popular actress Cristine Reyes tearfully appealed on ABS-CBN television from the roof of her two-story home, saying she and her mother and two young children had been waiting there for rescue for over six hours. "If the rains do not stop, the water will reach the roof. We do not know what to do. My mother doesn't know how to swim," she said. Manila airport operations chief Octavio Lina said the runway had been flooded, delaying international flights for hours. Floodwaters also caused some electrical outages. Hundreds of vehicles were stalled in flooded streets around the capital, and nearly 2,000 passengers were stranded in ports in several provinces south of Manila after the coast guard suspended ferry operations. The rains also caused the water in two dams near Manila to overflow, the national disaster agency said. It said water was waist-deep in some communities in northern Bulacan province near one dam. Power distributor Meralco cut off electric service to some flooded areas in metropolitan Manila to prevent accidents, spokesman Joel Zaldarriaga said.
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