Philippines SINKING: About 90 percent of Metro Manila and 20 other provinces inundated! This is already worse than Ondoy! A great flood without a typhoon? Strange!

[Stanislav]

Malabon city (Coast) flooded by floodwaters, North Manila!

Philippines SINKING:

/ 23 killed, 1.2m affected by unprecedented Philippines floods. Twenty three were killed, including seven missing, and 1.2 million were affected as all provinces in northern, central, and southern Luzon, nine areas in Metro Manila and several provinces in central Philippines were heavily flooded, paralysed and placed under a state of calamity. A total of 1,230,813 persons were affected by the widespread non-stop rains and flooding. A total of 242,211 persons stayed in government buildings, gymnasiums, and schools that were turned into evacuation centres. Some 607,941 persons left their heavily flooded homes and stayed with friends and relatives living on safer grounds, said Ramos. /

/ About 80 per cent of Manila, a sprawling metropolis of about 12 million people, remained inundated on Wednesday, Benito Ramos, head of the national disaster agency, told Reuters news agency./

/ High tide worsen floods in Manila! Source /

/ "This is already worse than Ondoy," declared Jose Fabian Cadiz, the vice mayor of Marikina, which sits in a valley that was hammered by the infamous "one-hundred-year rain" in 2009. "In half a day, Ondoy was over, the water began to subside. Now, we have already been submerged for three days, and the water is still high." /

/ Heavy rains brought by southwest monsoon have inundated about 90 percent of Metro Manila and 20 other provinces. /

/ "What was totally strange was that, last Monday, PAGASA didn’t report any storm or typhoon nor did any low pressure area enter the Philippine area of responsibility. I checked the satellite view on the Internet and the whole Philippine archipelago was full of dark clouds. But not a single one of us was prepared to hear the news reports that Metro Manila was 90% inundated by floods. This was worse than typhoon “Ondoy” yet there was no typhoon? Strange things are happening in our country today. " /   

/ Olongapo flooding worse than 'Ondoy'. Torrential rains brought by the southwest monsoon over the past days inundated Olongapo City in floods worse than those brought by storm “Ondoy” in late 2009. Floods hit the city as early as Monday afternoon, stranding thousands of passengers coming from work. /

/ Malabon floods worse Ondoy! Nineteen of 21 barangays in Malabon is still submerged in flood. Source /

/ Thousands displaced. The death toll from torrential monsoon rains rose to 19 yesterday, with over 700,000 residents evacuated from flooded areas in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported. Ramos said the floods have affected 1,230,813 residents in Metro Manila, Ilocos, Central Luzon, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon, (Calabarzon), and Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan.  He said 783,707 persons were evacuated from their flooded homes. Ramos said 242,211 persons are now staying at 614 evacuation centers while 607,941 persons are temporarily staying in the houses of relatives and friends. Laguna, Bataan, Pampanga and Zambales were placed under a state of calamity to allow local officials to tap their respective calamity funds to assist the affected residents.
Officials in Pasig City, Manila, San Juan, Pasay, Navotas, Malabon, Muntinlupa, Marikina, and parts of Bulacan have declared their areas under a state of calamity.
The bad weather had also damaged 535 houses.
As of yesterday, there were at least 90 flooded areas in four regions. There were 17 flooded areas in Metro Manila, three in Ilocos, 49 in Central Luzon and 21 in Calabarzon.
Affected by floods were Valenzuela, Malabon, Muntinlupa, Makati, Navotas, Mandaluyong, Paranaque, Quezon City, Taguig, Caloocan, Pasay, Las Piñas, Pateros, San Juan, Manila, Marikina and Pasig in Metro Manila and Calasiao, Dagupan, and Bugallon in Pangasinan in the Ilocos region.
In Central Luzon, the flooded areas were Calumpit, Meycauayan, Balagtas, Bocaue, Bulacan, Bustos, Guiguinto, Malolos, Marilao, Sta. Maria, San Jose del Monte, Pulilan, Plaridel, Paombong and Obando in Bulacan; Bacolor, Apalit, Candaba, Florida, Guagua, Lubao, San Simon, Macabebe, Mabalacat, Masantol, Minalin, Sasmuan, Sta. Ana, Sta. Rita, Sto. Tomas, Porac, San Fernando, and San Simon in Pampanga; Balanga, Dinalupihan, Orani, Orion, and Hermosa in Bataan; Paniqui, Camiling, Concepcion, Mayantoc, Sta. Ignacia, and La Paz in Tarlac; and San Narciso, Subic, San Felipe and Cabangan in Zambales.
In Calabarzon region, the areas hit by floods were Cardona and Cainta in Rizal; Sta. Rosa, Bian, Calamba, San Pedro, Cabuyao, Los Baños, Bay, Victoria, Sta. Cruz, Lumban, Paete, Pakil, Pangli, Siniloan, Mabitac, Sta. Maria, and Famy in Laguna; and Noveleta and General Trias in Cavite. NDRRMC said a total of 126 roads in Ilocos, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Cordillera and Metro Manila were not passable to vehicles due to flooding. /

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Philippines:

Deluge with no name threatens Ondoy's place in history

The annual monsoon rains brought in by the "Habagat" winds are such a regular occurrence that they don't stand out enough in the popular imagination to merit a unique name, as is the case with storms and typhoons.

So how did it happen that the impact of the 2012 monsoon rains this week may surpass  the epic floods of Typhoon Ondoy in 2009?
 
 “If there’s any message that we should learn… even a ‘simple’ monsoon can cause severe damage,” Nathaniel Cruz, GMA’s resident meteorologist, said in an interview.

This has been no ordinary monsoon or habagat.
 
From Aug. 6 to 7, a 48-hour period, the total accumulated rainfall amount recorded at PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Services Administration) Science Garden was 687 mm.
 
This amount is higher than the 24-hour accumulated rainfall on Sept, 26, 2009 —the day when Typhoon Ondoy devastated Metro Manila and other neighboring provinces. At PAGASA’s Science Garden, the recorded rainfall that day was 455 mm.

Ondoy featured more volume per hour but over a shorter time period. After starting on Monday, and intensifying on Tuesday, the habagat-induced rains this week are still not over, as a torrential downpour fell for several hours on Wednesday afternoon, after a short respite in the morning.

"This is already worse than Ondoy," declared Jose Fabian Cadiz, the vice mayor of Marikina, which sits in a valley that was hammered by the infamous "one-hundred-year rain" in 2009. "In half a day, Ondoy was over, the water began to subside. Now, we have already been submerged for three days, and the water is still high."

Communities from Cainta to San Fernando, Pampanga are drenched in agony, and tortured by the uncertainty of when their water-borne paralysis will end.

In both rainfall and notoriety, this nameless monsoon is threatening Ondoy's place in history.
 
However, the rainfall amount is just one point of comparison, said GMA Weather Group consultant Karen Cardenas. What has happened last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was completely different from Typhoon Ondoy: the latter was a “legitimate weather disturbance,” while the former was an abnormally huge amount of torrential monsoon rains.

Weather phenomena that mated and produced a monster
 
The monsoon was "enhanced" by a typhoon north of the Philippines, in the peculiar language of meteorologists, as if they were weather phenomena that mated and produced a monster.
 
According to PAGASA, the torrential rains were caused mainly by the Southwest Monsoon, also known as Habagat, intensified by Typhoon Haikui.
 
The Southwest Monsoon (SW Monsoon) is defined by PAGASA as “affecting the country from July to September, is very warm and humid, occurs when warm moist air flows over the country from the southwest direction, is characterized by heavy rainfall that may last for a week. It brings the rainy season to the western portion of the country.”
 
During this period, the land temperature in mainland Asia is higher so the sea breeze from the oceans (mainly Indian and Arabic Oceans) tends to move toward the land. This movement causes heavy rainfall, Cruz explained.
 
Since Typhoon Haikui moved slower, Cardenas explains, it was able to accumulate more water, increasing its power. As the typhoon strengthened, and approached the SW Monsoon, the monsoon intensified, carrying a huge amount of rain.
 
Above normal, against Ondoy
 
Dr. Mahar Lagmay of Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) said earlier that these types of phenomena occur once every fifty years.
 
The amount of rainfall recorded from Monday to Tuesday for a 48-hour period surpassed the monthly precipitation limit of Metro Manila, said Cruz.
 
For one, in the normal values for rainfall in Manila, as recorded in Port Area, Manila is between 400-500 mm during the month of August.
 
Weather.com, on the other hand, says that the average rainfall for the month of August should be within 300-400 mm.
 
However, Cardenas and Cruz said that even if what happened during the past few days may be similar to that of Typhoon Ondoy, the comparison should be made using specific parameters such as the same weather station used in comparing the amount of rainfall, the context of both events, status of dams during both period, and the saturation levels of rivers, tributaries and other areas.
 
Last week, Metro Manila was also affected by a weather disturbance. Typhoon Gener’s (Saola) strength was between 120 to 150 kph. According to PAGASA, the recorded highest rainfall amount that time was in Puerto Princesa, on July 28, at 106.3 mm. In PAGASA’s Science Garden, the recorded amount of rainfall that day was 50.4 mm.
 
Typhoon Gener lowered the saturation points of most of the water systems in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, Cardenas said. There was no immediate weather disturbance prior to the onset of Typhoon Ondoy. — TJD/HS, GMA News

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/268900/scitech/science/deluge-...

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Aquino visits flood victims in Muntinlupa

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III led Wednesday the distribution of relief goods to flood-affected families in Tunasan, Muntinlupa City.

The President handed out food packs consisting of noodles, cans of sardines and corned beef, rice and coffee to 784 families (3,920 individuals) from various barangays around Laguna Lake.

Social Welfare Assistant Secretary Milo Gudmalin briefed the President on the ongoing rescue and relief operations in the city.

In his short remark, the President assured flood victims that the government, through the local government units, is doing its best to provide basic services to families affected by the latest calamity.

Aquino expressed happiness that despite their poor situation, the people of Tunasan were all smiles and bursting with optimism.

Heavy rains brought by southwest monsoon have inundated about 90 percent of Metro Manila and 20 other provinces.

Over 160 schools in flood-affected communities now house over 14,000 families stricken by floods.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said he instructed Schools Division Superintendents in the National Capital Region (NCR) to work closely with local government as well as the city social welfare offices in their respective areas.

"We need to make sure that we have enough supplies to provide for the needs of evacuees under our care. Let us work hand in hand with our city and barangay officials to ensure that urgent needs are provided given the current situation," the Education chief said.

NCR has the largest number of evacuees with 9,741 families sheltered in 115 schools, followed by Central Luzon with 2,568 families in 36 schools, while 17 schools in Calabarzon Region are providing shelter for 2,180 families.

Aside from ensuring the smooth operation of schools used as evacuation centers, local education officials in Metro Manila are now finalizing a plan for the resumption of classes including provisions for make-up classes.

Details of which will be released Thursday, the Education department said. (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2012/08/08/aquino-visit...

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A great flood without a typhoon? Strange!

Open and read the Bible or your history books and you will see s»at God always intervenes when it is necessary or worse, when God is already fed up with the evil that has captured the hearts of the people. You know too well the story of Sodom and Gomorrah or the Battle of Lepanto and yes, who could forget the Great Flood, where the people ridiculed Noah for building the Ark. To us who see things with the eyes of faith who fought against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, God has shown his displeasure with a flood.

What was totally strange was that, last Monday, PAGASA didn’t report any storm or typhoon nor did any low pressure area enter the Philippine area of responsibility. I checked the satellite view on the Internet and the whole Philippine archipelago was full of dark clouds. But not a single one of us was prepared to hear the news reports that Metro Manila was 90% inundated by floods. This was worse than typhoon “Ondoy” yet there was no typhoon? Strange things are happening in our country today.       

When the rains were falling upon Metro Manila…I also got a deluge of texts about what was happening in Congress when the pro-RH Congress shouted “Aye” to end the debate on the RH bill. Why did the House Leadership resort to voting by viva voce escapes me? I was glued on ABS-CBN’s live TV coverage of this event…when suddenly someone suggested to do another roll-call because too many seats were already empty. Then ABS-CBN suddenly returned to their normal programming. The next thing we knew was that, the flood waters were already rising.

Call it a coincidence that last Tuesday was Aug. 7, 2012 and if you believe in numbers and opened the Bible to Genesis 8:7-12, you will read that portion where Noah sent a dove to investigate the extent of the great deluge and the dove returned to the ark, signifying that the flood waters have not yet receded. Call it also a coincidence that the gospel reading last Tuesday was about our Lord Jesus Christ walking on water.      

Of course, to the eyes of the unbeliever, all this is a simple matter of coincidence. But for those who see things from the eyes of faith… it is the wrath of God. As our fellow STAR columnist Jose Sison of “A Law Each Day” wrote as the headline of his column yesterday, it was “Tears from Heaven.”

 How many times do we have to point out that the Philippines is the last man standing as far as Reproductive Health is concerned? We are the only nation without a divorce law or a same sex marriage. If the proponents of the RH bill (many of them belong to a godless ideology and hate the Catholic Church) succeed in installing an RH bill (they say that they are against abortion, but close their eyes to the fact that contraception pills are abortifacient) their next move is a divorce bill and same sex marriage.      

So much for the spiritual side of things and shift our focus on what the Aquino regime is doing about the flood? Whatever they are doing is nothing but a “band aid” solution to the real problem. Because of the floods this week… people have all of the sudden forgotten the great garbage deluge that inundated Manila Bay and refuse from the Pasig River. I gathered that it took more than 170 garbage trucks to remove the debris and the question in my mind was where did they throw away the garbage? Did it return back to the houses when the flood waters inundated Metro Manila?

Perhaps the biggest question on the minds of many Manilans was, “Where was P-Noy when the great flood struck them?” At least during typhoon “Ondoy” people saw then Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wade in flood waters, while her Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. used the LRT to move from place to place. Two years into P-Noy’s regime, the flood waters of Metro Manila has only worsen because no one cared to solve the problem from its root cause. But for us who believe in God, this was God’s way to show his displeasure to our uncaring politicians.

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While Luzon and Metro Manila is suffering from the great floods, in Cebu City, the 3rd Aboitiz Invitational 2012 kicked off last Tuesday with a Pro-AM Golf and yesterday, the main event sponsored by the International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTS) and Aboitiz Corp. reeled off with at least 70 foreign professional golfers joining the Asian Development Tour. This golfing event is slated to finish this coming Saturday.

* * *

Yesterday the 888 News Forum celebrated its 6th anniversary at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel with no less than Hans Hauri, Marco Polo GM and Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association (HRRAC) President as guest speaker. Mr. Robert “Bobby” Lim, founder and chairman of 888 News Forum was on hand to give out awards to deserving personalities in Cebu.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=836244&publicati...

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Olongapo flooding worse than 'Ondoy'

OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines -- Torrential rains brought by the southwest monsoon over the past days inundated Olongapo City in floods worse than those brought by storm “Ondoy” in late 2009.

Floods hit the city as early as Monday afternoon, stranding thousands of passengers coming from work.

Those working inside the Subic Bay Freeport had to walk from the Freeport gates to as far as Barangay Cabalan as floods in the city’s main roads brought traffic to a standstill.

On Monday night, Olongapo city Mayor Bong Gordon ordered the suspension of classes at all levels as well as all government work, except for emergency and disaster response operations, Tuesday in anticipation of continuing rains.

Hardest hit by the floodwaters were barangays Sta. Rita, Mabayuan, New Ilalim, East Bajac Bajac and West Bajac-Bajac. Residents on 1st Street in Barangay New Banicain had their first taste of knee-deep floods.

At around 6 a.m. Tuesday, the city’s central areas were already knee to waist-deep in floods.  Other areas along Acacia Street in Gordon Heights and Tabacuhan were also under water as deep as five feet.

Five persons were washed away by floodwaters as they were having a drinking spree on a riverbank on 12th Street, Barangay East Tapinac, which was waist-deep in floods.

Their neighbors said two of them were able to hold on to what looked like tree roots and survived.

However, two others died, their bodies recovered several kilometers away. The fifth victim was later reported confined in a hospital, although his condition remained unknown as of this posting.

At 9 a.m., a frantic resident turned to Facebook seeking help to rescue her relatives, including a deaf-mute, on Avocado Street in Barangay Sta. Rita.  Rescue workers, however, found it hard to get to them as their boats quickly filled with wailing flood victims even before they could reach the area that, by noon, was inundated in 10 feet of floodwater.

The deaf mute was finally rescued after 12 long hours.

Around noon, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority director Benjamin Antonio started a donation drive for food, used clothing, blankets, canned goods and drinking water. He also called for volunteers to work at the Subic Bay Gym, where donations were received and dispatched.

An earthquake struck at a little past 1:00 p.m., adding to the fears of flood victims waiting to be rescued.   

At 2 p.m., Magsaysay Drive corner Rizal Ave., the city’s former red light district, was waist deep in floodwater.

Joint rescue teams from the city government and Barangay Sta. Rita, the worst hit village, had their hands full rescuing people from sitios where waters had risen to the rooftops of two-story houses.

Crying victims on rooftops greeted them. By this time, the rescue teams had already worked for almost 20 hours nonstop since Monday evening.

Rescuers from Sta. Rita rested for only an hour Tuesday afternoon before resuming operations, transporting flood victims to the jampacked and also flooded Sta. Rita Elementary School.

Past 3 p.m., the SMBA also made the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center available to evacuees, not only from Olongapo but also the nearby provinces of Bataan and Zambales.

An hour later, floodwaters along the city’s main thoroughfares, including the Ulo ng Apo Rotonda, reached chest deep, making roads impassable even to heavy vehicles and stranding thousands of motorists.

To save their vehicles from the unprecedented floods, many residents parked them overnight at the fifth floor of the SM shopping mall.

By 11 p.m., Armie Llamas of the SBMA Public Relations Department was still appealing for donations of mats, blankets, slippers, garments, food, water and basic medicines for evacuees housed at the SBECC.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/39779/olongapo-flooding-worse-th...

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23 killed, 1.2m affected by unprecedented Philippines floods

Manila: Twenty three were killed, including seven missing, and 1.2 million were affected as all provinces in northern, central, and southern Luzon, nine areas in Metro Manila and several provinces in central Philippines were heavily flooded, paralysed and placed under a state of calamity.

Massive rescue operations intensified in affected areas to ease weather-beaten and stranded residents on rooftops in slum areas, middle class enclaves, and high-end gated mansions, sources told Gulf News.

This is another day of heavy rains, but rescue and relief operations will continue because 80 per cent of Metro Manila is still under water. There is devastation in the provinces.”

The number of dead triggered by Typhoon Haikui, including a families that were buried by a landslide in a slum area on Commonwealth Village in suburban Quezon City raised to 76 the total number of those who perished since Typhoon Saola brought a week of rains and killed 53 people before it exited and hit Taiwan end of July.

After 12 days of rains (since the start of Typhoon Saola’s wrath), the sun peeped briefly at eight Wednesday morning, making sleepless government officials, rescuers, and reporters joyful.

Article continues below

The state-run Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) also raised on Wednesday morning a “yellow rainfall warning (or better weather)” from Tuesday’s “green rainfall warning signal (or bad weather),” as Typhoon Haikui, cited earlier at 300 kilometres northwest of Taiwan, and blamed for the unprecedented fatal floods in the Philippines, finally made a land fall at China’s east coast.

But in the afternoon, PAGASA posted the status of “red rainfall warning signal” again on Metro Manila after three hours of heavy rains hit Metro Manila’s cities of Caloocan, Quezon, Malabon, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Pasig, and Valenzuela starting 12 noon.

“This is another day of heavy rains, but rescue and relief operations will continue because 80 percent of Metro Manila is still under water. There is devastation in the provinces,” said Undersecretary Benito Ramos, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC).

Taking advantage of the brief fair weather on Wednesday morning, President Benigno Aquino, accompanied by his sister Kris, a TV personality and actress, visited until late afternoon several evacuation centres in Metro Manila’s Muntinlupa, Marikina, Quezon City, and Malabon. It was the first time for the bachelor president to visit disaster-whipped areas.

At the height of floods on Tuesday, nine couples were married in a mass wedding given by local leaders to poor people at the Sto. Domingo Church in suburban Quezon City, a TV report said.

As this merry event happened, residents of East Riverside, a nearby slum area built on a creek, hoisted the sick, the young, and the old away from the rampaging flood with the help of ropes tied like a web on shanties.

This kind of self-help rescue operation was noted in almost all depressed areas.

Meanwhile, the gated mansion of lawyer Pacifico Agabin, the former counsel of former president Joseph Estrada when the latter underwent impeachment trial at the Senate in 2000, was flooded as water entered the Provident Village in suburban Marikina, considered as Metro manila’s catch-basin.

Rescuers were aboard motorized rubber boats when they entered submerged shanty-filled slum areas and also middle and upper class villages. They plucked people out of their illegal homes under several bridges in Metro Manila.

“Major roads in Metro Manila remained un-passable. They still look like virtual rivers. Bridges in northern and southern Luzon were heavily damaged,” said Ramos of the NDRRMC.

In Luzon, five dams, including Ipo, Ambuklao, Binga, San Roque and Magat, rached critical level and released water, causing floods in a wide ranging area such as 10 towns in Pangasinan Province; 10 towns in Isabela province, both in northern Luzon; and coastal areas down to Hagonoy, suburban Bulacan (just north of Manila), said Ramos, adding that residents near dams that overflowed were told to evacuate.

A total of 1,230,813 persons were affected by the widespread non-stop rains and flooding. A total of 242,211 persons stayed in government buildings, gymnasiums, and schools that were turned into evacuation centres. Some 607,941 persons left their heavily flooded homes and stayed with friends and relatives living on safer grounds, said Ramos.

Bank operation and bourse trading resumed on Wednesday. Heavy traffic followed the opening of government and private offices in Metro Manila. But classes in all levels remained suspended in all affected areas.

On Wednesday, the government imposed price control on basic commodities in areas which declared a state of calamity, Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo said, adding that he would convened the National Price Coordinating Council as he warned traders and retailers not to take undue advantage of the situation.

But prices of fresh water fish and vegetables went up slightly because suppliers could not delivery food to area that are still under water, vendors said.

Effects of Typhoon Haikui which never entered the Philippines were compared to Typhoon Ketsana which killed 747 people when it hit the country in late 2009.

About 21 typhoons ravage the Philippines every year. They usually originate from the Pacific Ocean towards southern Philippines if coming from Guam, and from the Pacific Ocean’s northern area.

Typhoons either move northward towards Taiwan, Japan, or China, or lower eastward towards other Southeast Asian Nations like Cambodia and Vietnam

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/philippines/23-killed-1-2m-affected-...

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Floods submerge most of Philippine capital

Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated from the capital of the Philippines as floods devastate the city.

About 80 per cent of Manila, a sprawling metropolis of about 12 million people, remained inundated on Wednesday, Benito Ramos, head of the national disaster agency, told Reuters news agency.

"The roads in some areas are like rivers. People have to use boats to move around. All the roads and alleys are flooded," Ramos told AFP news agency.

Emergency workers and troops have rushed food, water and clothes to nearly 800,000 people displaced and marooned from deadly floods spawned by more than a week of southwest monsoon rains that soaked the Philippine capital and nearby provinces.

"We're still on a rescue mode. Floods are receding in many areas but people are still trapped on their roofs," Ramos said.

Financial markets reopened after being shut on Tuesday, but schools and many businesses remained shut for a second straight day with the military, police and civic officials struggling to deliver aid.

Still, many people were reluctant to leave flooded homes, fearing a loss of valuables, officials said.

"We're also asking people living along swollen riverbanks to evacuate," Ramos said. "If there is a need for us to force them to leave their homes, we will do that for their own safety."

The death toll in Manila and nearby provinces stood at 15, including nine members of one family who died in a landslide.
Al Jazeera’s Marga Ortigas in Manila said that while the government is working around the clock in its rescue efforts, many are still left stranded.

"There are people who are actually tweeting from the rooftop of their homes to say that no help has yet reached them," Ortigas said.

"There are others who are calling into radio stations and putting their plea out to national rescuers."

Ortigas added that a volunteer "Twitter brigade" is using the social medium platform to try to organise relief and get medical attention to where it’s needed.

Slums hardest hit

The worst hit parts of Manila were mostly the poorest districts, where millions of slum dwellers have built homes along riverbanks and other areas susceptible to flooding.

In Santo Domingo, a creekside shantytown, mother-of-three Anita Alterano recounted how her family escaped the floods that had submerged their one-storey home by walking over the roofs of houses until they reached high ground.

"We initially just decided to climb up on the roof where we were safe but wet. We waited for rescuers but it took so long for anyone to notice us," Alterano told AFP.

"So we got a rope, I tied myself to my husband and my children, we clambered from roof-to-roof ... until we reached a school. But the problem is we have no water and food."

Even some of Manila's richest districts were affected, including the riverside community of Provident where water had completely inundated the ground floors of three-storey mansions.

Inside the gated village of about 2,000 homes, rescue workers on a motorised rubber boat drove past submerged luxury cars to retrieve children and the elderly from rooftops.

Back to work

On Wednesday, the weather bureau lifted the rainfall alert level even as the volume of rainfall in the last 24 hours rose to 390 mm from 323 mm in the previous day.

The highest recorded 24-hour rainfall was 454 mm in September 2009, inundating 80 per cent of the capital and resulted in the death of more than 700 people and destruction of $1 billion worth of private and public property.

Across Manila and surrounding areas, more than 800,000 people had sought help from rescue workers, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Nearly 86,000 of them were sheltering in schools, gymnasiums and other buildings that have been turned into evacuation centres, while others were staying with relatives and friends, the council said.

But after much of the city was paralysed on Tuesday, the government ordered government and private sector employees back to work, while the stock market resumed trading.

The death toll has gone up to 69 since steady rains started when Typhoon Saola hit northern portions of the main Luzon island in late July.

The Philippines endures about 20 major storms or typhoons each rainy season, many of which are deadly.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/08/2012885413360470...

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Thousands displaced

MANILA, Philippines - The death toll from torrential monsoon rains rose to 19 yesterday, with over 700,000 residents evacuated from flooded areas in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported.

NDRRMC executive director Benito Ramos, however, said only 16 deaths had been verified, including nine landslide victims in Quezon City.

One-month-old Jonica Castulo and her siblings Jonathan, 3; Joshua, 2; and their mother Jessica, 23, were killed in the landslide in Barangay Commonwealth last Tuesday.

The other victims were 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.

The landslide buried the houses of the victims that were built near the foot of a hilly portion of the community along Bayanihan Street near Litex Road.

In Caloocan, Gilbert Rabara, 36, drowned due to the floods that submerged parts of the city.

Two fatalities were also reported in Central Luzon that included Darel Flores, 9, who was electrocuted in Pampanga, while Ariem Menes, 19, drowned in Zambales.

The NDRRMC said Marie Pansipane, 7, and her sister Ana Mae, drowned while crossing a river in Barangay Ulanggo in Tanauan, Batangas.

Four persons were injured, namely Jessie Baylon, 24, Kidskin Simbulan, 40, Leslyn Simbulan, 19, and Alex Simbulan, whose age has yet to be determined.

All are residents of Barangay Commonwealth in Quezon City who were injured due to the landslide.

Ramos said the floods have affected 1,230,813 residents in Metro Manila, Ilocos, Central Luzon, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon, (Calabarzon), and Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan.

He said 783,707 persons were evacuated from their flooded homes.

Ramos said 242,211 persons are now staying at 614 evacuation centers while 607,941 persons are temporarily staying in the houses of relatives and friends.

Laguna, Bataan, Pampanga and Zambales were placed under a state of calamity to allow local officials to tap their respective calamity funds to assist the affected residents.

Officials in Pasig City, Manila, San Juan, Pasay, Navotas, Malabon, Muntinlupa, Marikina, and parts of Bulacan have declared their areas under a state of calamity.

The bad weather had also damaged 535 houses.

As of yesterday, there were at least 90 flooded areas in four regions.

There were 17 flooded areas in Metro Manila, three in Ilocos, 49 in Central Luzon and 21 in Calabarzon.

Affected by floods were Valenzuela, Malabon, Muntinlupa, Makati, Navotas, Mandaluyong, Paranaque, Quezon City, Taguig, Caloocan, Pasay, Las Piñas, Pateros, San Juan, Manila, Marikina and Pasig in Metro Manila and Calasiao, Dagupan, and Bugallon in Pangasinan in the Ilocos region.

In Central Luzon, the flooded areas were Calumpit, Meycauayan, Balagtas, Bocaue, Bulacan, Bustos, Guiguinto, Malolos, Marilao, Sta. Maria, San Jose del Monte, Pulilan, Plaridel, Paombong and Obando in Bulacan; Bacolor, Apalit, Candaba, Florida, Guagua, Lubao, San Simon, Macabebe, Mabalacat, Masantol, Minalin, Sasmuan, Sta. Ana, Sta. Rita, Sto. Tomas, Porac, San Fernando, and San Simon in Pampanga; Balanga, Dinalupihan, Orani, Orion, and Hermosa in Bataan; Paniqui, Camiling, Concepcion, Mayantoc, Sta. Ignacia, and La Paz in Tarlac; and San Narciso, Subic, San Felipe and Cabangan in Zambales.

In Calabarzon region, the areas hit by floods were Cardona and Cainta in Rizal; Sta. Rosa, Bian, Calamba, San Pedro, Cabuyao, Los Baños, Bay, Victoria, Sta. Cruz, Lumban, Paete, Pakil, Pangli, Siniloan, Mabitac, Sta. Maria, and Famy in Laguna; and Noveleta and General Trias in Cavite.

NDRRMC said a total of 126 roads in Ilocos, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Cordillera and Metro Manila were not passable to vehicles due to flooding.

These roads are located in Pangasinan, Valenzuela City, Quezon City, Taguig City, Caloocan, Muntinlupa, Pasig, Parañaque, Pateros, Makati, Navotas, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Pampanga, Bulacan, Bataan, Batangas, Cavite, Rizal, Abra, Benguet, Kalinga and Mountain Province.

No damage to bridges was reported.

NDRRMC said a total of 5,451 personnel, 34 vehicles and 176 seacraft from the military, police and Coast Guard have been deployed for evacuation and rescue operations.

The cost of assistance provided by the government, local officials and non-government organizations has reached P12.9 million.

The continuous heavy rains have prompted local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila and many parts of Luzon to suspend classes today in all levels.

Cristina Ganzon, Department of Education Communications Unit director, said that as early as 4 p.m. yesterday, the LGUs of Pateros, Navotas, Makati, Manila, Caloocan, San Juan, Pasay, Mandaluyong, Quezon City and Valenzuela City in Metro Manila; Olongapo City; San Mateo, Rizal; and Bocaue, Bulacan had already informed DepEd of their decision to suspend classes in all levels in their respective areas.

Makati City also suspended classes in all levels today, and also lifted the number coding scheme in the city.

With the heavy rains that again started to pour down Metro Manila yesterday afternoon, Ganzon said that they expect some more LGUs to suspend classes for Thursday.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla suspended work in local government offices early yesterday morning as floods continued.

Soldiers and volunteers with additional rubber boats have reinforced the rescue units of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

MMDA general manager Corazon Jimenez said the military augmentation came from Cagayan, Central Luzon, Region 4-B and Albay.

The MMDA’s two water treatment machines have already been deployed to Marikina City, Jimenez said.

Jimenez said that MMDA volunteers who had been trained by the agency in water emergency rescue, also reported for duty yesterday.

“We have deployed them to the different barangays and to the various command posts across Metro Manila,” said Jimenez.

Jimenez advised volunteers that it is best for them not to leave their barangays and just render assistance there if these are still flooded.

Meanwhile, according to the MMDA’s Flood Control Information Center (FCIC), as of 2:55 p.m., the northbound lane of the Nagtahan flyover towards Lacson St. (formerly Governor Forbes) was closed to traffic because of deep flooding.

Also reported by the FCIC as not passable to all types of vehicles as of yesterday afternoon were Recto Avenue to SH Loyola St. in Manila; Lerma St. and Ongpin St. which are both still submerged in waist-deep floods.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) would donate 23 rubber boats to the NDRRMC to augment rescue operations.

Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon said that the boats, which could be used to rescue people who have been trapped in their homes and to ferry people to safety, have been cleared for transfer.

BOC agents previously seized the smuggled boats.

A joint team of the Office of Civil Defense in Bicol and Albay disaster and relief team was deployed in Metro Manila last Tuesday afternoon to support the ongoing rescue and relief operations.

Gov. Joey Salceda said the Albay team, headed by Nats Rempillo, brought a tank lorry and a filtration machine donated by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID) which can process 32,000 liters of potable water an hour.

PCSO assists victims

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) assured the public yesterday that the agency would shoulder the hospital bills of flood victims who were treated for various ailments in government hospitals in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said that victims who were treated in government hospitals could coordinate with the PCSO offices for the payment of their hospital bills.

“We expect requests for assistance to come in and we are prepared to attend to these quickly. We also assure the victims directly affected by this calamity who are treated at government hospitals in coordination with PCSO offices that their hospital bills will be shouldered by PCSO,” he said.

Rojas said that the PCSO released relief goods to victims of Tuesday’s heavy rains.

He said that the charity agency sent 100 sacks of rice, goods, mats, and other relief items to the local government units of Quezon City, Pasay City, and Bacoor in Cavite among the areas hardest hit by the calamity.

Another 100 sacks of rice and relief goods were donated to ABS-CBN Foundation’s Sagip Kapamilya program, while medicine was dispatched to the Department of Social Welfare and Development office in Pasay City for distribution.

Aside from assurance of footing the hospital bill and donation of goods to the victims of the calamity, PCSO also shared its resources by lending its buses to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) for evacuation operations.

Rojas said PCSO employees who are unable to report to work because of floods in their areas would join volunteers at evacuation centers in their communities.

The PRC delivered power generators to the University of the East-Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center (UERMMC) and Delos Santos Hospital in Quezon City that were flooded and have no electricity.

The PRC also distributed relief goods to patients and employees of UERMMC, Delos Santos, and the also flooded University of Santo Tomas Hospital.

PRC secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang said more relief operations and hygiene promotion would be conducted in some of the 174 evacuation centers where 11,591 families are still sheltered.

The Red Cross would also set up welfare desks in the evacuation centers to provide psychosocial support and other welfare needs of the affected families.

Pang said the PRC will conduct quick assessment of the situation and further needs of the affected families in Metro Manila and other flooded areas.

Globe Telecom through its flagship corporate social responsibility program Globe Bridging Communities (Globe BridgeCom) is conducting simultaneous relief operations in the Concepcion Integrated School, Concepcion, Marikina Mother of Divine Providence Parish, and in the Quezon City barangays Payatas, Holy Trinity Parish, and Fairview.

Employee-volunteers from Globe Telecom and partner organizations will be distributing ready-to-eat food, canned goods, rice, assorted clothes and drinking water to an estimated 5,300 families temporarily seeking shelter at these evacuation centers.

Globe has maintained Libreng Tawag operations in the Victory Liner bus station in Cubao, Quezon City Victory Liner bus station in Pasay City, Concepcion Integrated School in Concepcion, Marikina; Bagong Silangan Elementary School in Quezon City.

Affected residents can make free five-minute local calls to any network, send text messages to all networks or make a two-minute international call at the Globe Libreng Tawag facilities.

Less than one percent of the Globe infrastructure in Metro Manila and nearby areas was affected by flooding.

Globe field engineers and network teams are on alert and have been working 24 hours a day to ensure subscribers get uninterrupted voice or data services.

- With Perseus Echeminada, Non Alquitran, Evelyn Macairan, Mike Frialde, Jerry Botial, Mayen Jaymalin, Sandy Araneta, Celso Amo, Ric Sapnu, Arnell Ozaeta, Aie Balagtas See, Jose Rodel Clapano,AP 

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=836163&publicati...

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[Stanislav]

Sorry for the my failure. I misunderstood, due inattention, the meaning of the phrase and I thought that 12 million people flooded. Sorry again for this disinformation...

"About 80 per cent of Manila, a sprawling metropolis of about 12 million people, remained inundated on Wednesday, Benito Ramos, head of the national disaster agency, told Reuters news agency."

[Howard]

Photos of rooftop living in the flooded Philippines.

http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/09/13197385-life-on-the-...