Philippine province ‘one big river’ in new floods
MANILA, Philippines — Fresh flooding hit about 30 towns in the northern Philippines on Friday, sending residents fleeing to rooftops and scrambling for safety after dams released excess water from recent heavy rains, officials said.
Pangasinan provincial Vice Gov. Marlyn Premicias said she was getting frantic text messages from residents asking to be rescued, adding: “Eastern Pangasinan has become one big river.”
Rains and water discharged late Thursday night from a dam in Pangasinan inundated 30 out of 46 towns along the Agno River in the coastal province, said Boots Velasco, the province’s information officer.
“There was really heavy rain, so water had to be released from the dam, otherwise it would have been more dangerous,” said the government’s chief forecaster Nathaniel Cruz. “Even our office was flooded and our staff had to move to the rooftop. It’s near the river that they were monitoring.”
Heavy army trucks could not penetrate the area and Premicias appealed for helicopters and boats to move people out of danger.
Forecasters said Tropical Depression Parma was still lingering off the northeastern coast, dumping rains overnight. It was the second major storm to hit the country in two weeks. Storms and flooding have killed more than 300 people since Sept. 26, including at least seven buried in a landslide in mountainous Benguet province Thursday, said Olive Luces, regional chief of the Office of Civil Defense.
Mayor Nonato Abrenica of the Pangasinan’s Villasis township said rain and water released from a nearby dam caused floods to rise quickly, isolating his town. He asked for food, water and medicines to be airlifted and for boats to rescue stranded residents.
An anchorman of DZBB radio said text messages received by the station included an appeal from a hospital staffer in Villasis who described that patients had to be moved to the second floor to escape the floods. The message said there was no power and food in the hospital.
The government’s disaster relief agency said it had requested the U.S. Embassy to redeploy hundreds of American troops from the massive cleanup in and around the capital, Manila, to the flood-hit areas in the north.
Two U.S. Navy ships were positioning in the Lingayen Gulf in Pangasinan to provide helicopters and rubber boats for the rescue mission in the province, said U.S. Marine Capt. Jorge Escatell.
In Japan, meanwhile, a powerful typhoon tore through the main island Thursday, peeling roofs off houses, cutting electricity to hundreds of thousands and forcing flight cancellations before turning back toward the sea. Four people died.
During morning rush hour, more than 2 million commuters in Tokyo were stranded for hours as train services on several lines were suspended, while in other regions trucks were toppled on highways and bridges were destroyed by flash floods.
By evening, Typhoon Melor was downgraded to a tropical storm as it lost power over northern Japan. It was due to veer off the northeastern coast Thursday evening.
Nearly 100 people were injured and more than 11,000 people were evacuated to shelters, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
News broadcasts showed the damage left by the storm as it moved northeast across the country — partially submerged cars, large shipping containers scattered by the wind, and damaged buildings with ceilings and walls torn away. Footage also showed huge waves crashing over storm barriers onto coastal roads. ___
Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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