<nyt_headline version=”1.0″ type=” “>Thousands Flee Manila Flooding; Desperate Residents Trapped on Roofs
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By FLOYD WHALEY
Published: August 7, 2012 8 Comments
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<nyt_text><nyt_correction_top>MANILA — At least a third of this overpopulated capital and its suburbs were submerged on Tuesday as torrential rains battered the city and floodwaters poured in from almost all sides. An overflowing lake in the south sent water coursing into a river that slices through Manila; water poured from the open floodgates of a dam to the north, and high tide brought flooding from the bay to the west.
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“It’s like Waterworld,” said Benito Ramos, who heads the government’s disaster relief agency, referring to the movie with Kevin Costner depicting a submerged earth.
More than 50 people have been killed in more than a week of intense storms, monsoon rains and flooding, and at least 250,000 have been evacuated in just the past several days, officials said.
On Tuesday, rescue workers raced to pluck people from their roofs and out of fast-flowing water from the worst flooding here since two storms in 2009 killed more than 900 people. Photographs of some of the hardest-hit areas showed people clutching belongings as they struggled to keep their heads above water in strong currents and others clinging to metal poles and buildings.
Television networks and radio stations reported receiving frantic calls from people unable to flee their homes, according to The Associated Press. One of them, Josephine Cruz, told DZMM radio that she was trapped in her two-story house with 11 other people, including her 83-year-old mother.
“We need to be rescued,” she said, according to the news service. “We can’t get out because the floodwaters are now higher than people.”
A state of emergency was declared in nine provincial areas near Manila, setting government relief efforts in motion. And for much of the day Tuesday, the only major highway linking Manila to the north of the country was flooded and closed to traffic.
Major streets in Manila began turning to rivers on Monday, when the government said up to half of the city and its environs were under water. On Tuesday, officials said some of the storm waters had receded, but heavy rains continued, leaving open the possibility that floods would again claim more of the city.
Schools and business and government offices were ordered closed, although Manila’s main business districts were largely spared, in part because they have well-maintained drainage systems, unlike slum areas.
Richard Gordon, chairman of the Red Cross of the Philippines, described a perilous situation for rescuers, many of whom were using rafts and makeshift boats to traverse flooded slums.
“We have areas where our people can’t get in because there are live wires in the water,” Mr. Gordon said. “They face the risk of electrocution.”
He added, “We just have to grin and bear it and do our best to rescue people.”
In Quezon City, just northeast of Manila, nine people, including three children, were killed Tuesday when a landslide caused by heavy rain buried a slum.
As rescuers frantically tried to dig people out, Jessie Bailon stared at a muddy mound where his shanty had stood. “My wife, children and grandchild are down there,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
Manila is particularly vulnerable to flooding. The metropolitan area, which has a population of more than 10 million, sits in a low-lying area between a large lake and the ocean. The lake, Laguna de Bay, at the south of the city, drains to the ocean via the Pasig River, which runs through the center of town. The lake and the river are heavily silted and prone to overflowing their banks.
Waters behind the major dam north of the city, which supplies much of Manila’s water, also crested in recent days, compelling officials to open floodgates. In addition, the bay beside Manila has swelled during high tide in recent days.
The flooding provoked fears of a repeat of the typhoons Ketsana and Parma, which struck within a week in 2009. Those storms caused flooding that affected more than nine million people and killed 929, according to the government disaster relief agency.
Mr. Gordon, the Red Cross official, said he did not expect the situation to become as bad as that.
“I feel a little positive that the sun will come out tomorrow,” he said. “We are trying to be hopeful.”
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