A large portion of the capital of the Philippines was still under water on Thursday as the deadly Typhoon Gaemi intensified the country’s intense monsoon rains, trapping thousands of people in rising floodwaters and causing extensive damage.
At least 13 people have been killed and over 600,000 have been homeless by the persistent torrential rains, major flooding, and landslides that have affected the Philippines. On Thursday, Philippine authorities reported that an oil tanker capsized off the coast of the country due to strong winds and high waves.Unlike in Taiwan, the typhoon – known locally as Carina – didn’t make landfall in the Philippines, but its powerful outer bands dumped more than 300 mm (12 inches) of rain in the Manila region and parts of the main island Luzon, prompting officials to declare a “state of calamity” in the capital on Wednesday and evacuate tens of thousands of people.
Unlike in Taiwan, the typhoon – known locally as Carina – didn’t make landfall in the Philippines, but its powerful outer bands dumped more than 300 mm (12 inches) of rain in the Manila region and parts of the main island Luzon, prompting officials to declare a “state of calamity” in the capital on Wednesday and evacuate tens of thousands of people.Video and images from Manila show people wading through chest-deep water and some clinging precariously to overhead power lines as major roads turned into rivers. Families with children wrapped in towels or plastic ponchos huddled together on dinghies as disaster response teams rescued them from flooded houses.
Some parts of Metro Manila – home to 13 million people – have reported floods as high as one-story buildings, with some residents spotted waiting for rescue on roofs, according to the official Philippine News Agency. In Rizal province’s Cainta, east of the capital, floodwaters were still around waist-level on Thursday, according to local councilor Ben Ramirez Narag. “No one is prepared for this, even though we anticipated the typhoon, we could not have predicted the scale of rainfall,” he said.
His team was delivering supplies to evacuation centers and assessing damage to infrastructure, he added. The southwest monsoon, supercharged by the typhoon, is still causing misery and destrucThe Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Thursday said it was responding to an incident involving a tanker carrying over one million liters of industrial fuel oil that capsized off the coast of Bataan, west of Manila. PCG spokesperson CG Rear Adm. Armando Balilo said 16 crew members of the MT Terra Nova had been rescued with the search ongoing for one missing sailor.
Images show the coast guard launching a rescue operation and the ship almost fully submerged in rough seas. Coast Guard aerial assets have been deployed to monitor an oil spill with “an estimated coverage of two nautical miles (2.3 miles) carried by a strong current,” it said. On land, the flooding has caused widespread disruption that forced authorities to close schools, businesses and cancel more than 150 flights on Thursday. Carlito Pagaduan, a resident of northern Ilocos Sur province, told CNN that heavy rains descended early Thursday and although floodwaters had not entered his home he feared they may lose power in the hard-to-reach area.
“We’re trying to save battery,” he told CNN. “Due to strong winds, we don’t know when we’ll lose electricity.” He said his family has prepared for evacuation but will stay in their home for now.tion in the Philippines even after Gaemi moved north and made landfall in Taiwan early Thursday as the equivalent of a Category 3 major hurricane in the Atlantic.A study published last year found that parts of Asia’s largest cities could be under water by 2100 due to rising sea levels, and coastal flooding events in Manila within the next century will occur 18 times more often than before – solely because of climate change.
Just days before the typhoon lashed the Philippines, President Marcos included flood prevention in his state of the nation address.“More than 5,500 flood control projects have been completed and many more are currently being done throughout the country,” Marcos said Monday.Campaigners have urged Marcos to do more to build resiliency to extreme weather, which has left people struggling to rebuild after enduring multiple climate disasters. “These torrential rains give yet another picture of extreme weather in a climate changed world. Filipinos are calling for climate justice. President Marcos must champion policies to help facilitate access to justice for communities,” Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Khevin Yu said in a statement.
Source: Here