Storm Watch: Rizal in Distress

50 Families evacuated in Morong

In Rizal province, local rescue workers scampered to respond to distress calls in various towns with reports of simultaneous landslides, rising flood waters and electrical dangers.

In Antipolo City, a certain Aubreline reportedly died after she fell into an overflowing creek yesterday morning, Supt. Dioscoro Maata, chief of police said.

Reports from the monitoring center of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) based at the Ynares Center Compound showed that several towns in the province were flooded prompting affected residents to immediately leave their homes and transfer to designated evacuation centers in their respective barangays.

Strong winds and heavy rains continued without interruption starting at around 8 a.m.

Personnel of the PDCC said thousands fled their homes in Tanay town, including residents whose houses were situated in riverside and mountainside areas.

Landslides in Sampaloc in Tanay, and Phase 3 of Barangay San Luis in Antipolo City were also reported to the PDCC around 11:30 a.m.

Floodwaters reaching up to waist deep at the town proper in Tanay made some of the streets almost not passable to small types of vehicles.

In San Mateo, some 40 families whose houses are located along the riverbank on North and South Libis of Barangay Banaba volunteered to leave their homes as their houses were submerged in raging floodwater.

More than 150 families have also been evacuated in Jala-Jala town; 50 families in Morong; and some 300 families in other parts of San Mateo and more than 50 families were relocated in Kalayan, in Angono and hundreds of families in Cardona town as of 8:30 a.m. yesterday.

Hundreds were stranded along the flood-prone portions of Ortigas Avenue in Cainta and Taytay towns as jeepneys could not pass through the flooded highway.

Some tricycle drivers in the city proper of Antipolo also reportedly refused to convey commuters to their destinations as most streets were submerged in rising floodwaters during the height of the heavy rains from morning until late afternoon.

PDCC personnel said the number of affected families were expected to increase by hundreds if the rains and strong winds did not stop.

Source: Tempo