| Philippines rushes food and clothes as rain pounds Manila |
MANILA Heavy rains pounded the Philippines capital on Wednesday, prompting a new danger alert as emergency workers rushed food, water and clothes to almost one million people through streets turned into rivers after 11 straight days of monsoon downpour.
About 60 per cent of Manila remained inundated, Benito Ramos, head of the national disaster agency, said. Danger to the population was compounded by an early Wednesday evening one-hour downpour of 54.7 mm, just shy of a record one-hour soaking of 56.58 mm in September 2009 that inundated the capital, killing 700 people and causing $1 billion worth of property damage.
The weather bureau issued a new weather alert as the downpour hit, only hours after lifting an earlier warning. But many people have refused to leave flooded homes, fearing a loss of valuables and livelihoods, Ramos 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.”
Nineteen people were reported killed since Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 72 since rains started.
Financial markets reopened after being shut on Tuesday, but schools and many businesses shut for a second day. Some public offices suspended operations on Wednesday. Jesse Robredo, the interior secretary, said the government has started drawing up plans to permanently relocate residents along riverbanks and coastal areas.
The national disaster agency said that at least 850,000 people were stranded or displaced, many seeking relief at crowded temporary shelter areas.
“We were hoping to go home because it’s difficult here. The sleeping conditions are not comfortable, and it’s not easy to get food,” Joyce Anne Diri, a mother of three, told Reuters at a temporary shelter in flooded Marikina City.
The combination of constant rains and an overflowing lake that fed into the Pasig River was made worse as the high tide pushed in more water from the western ocean bay.
“We’re still concerned about the situation in the coastal areas,” Ramos said after conducting an aerial survey of hard-hit areas. “It was difficult to distinguish the sea from the flood waters.” Four provinces near Manila were placed under a state of calamity, including the key rice-growing provinces of Bataan and Pampanga.
Reuters
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