TWO persons drowned while another went missing during the intense rains brought by the southwest monsoon and enhanced by Tropical Storm Karding (international name Yagi), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on Monday, August 13.
As of 8 a.m. Monday, the NDRRMC identified the casualties as Dioscoro Camacho, 36, and Gloria Mendoza, 61, who drowned in Marikina and Quezon City, respectively.
The missing person was Edgar Bugaay 50, who reportedly fell into a creek in Barangay San Antonio in Quezon City and was swept away by the strong current.
The NDRRMC said a total of 248,080 families or 1.057 million individuals from 713 barangays in the National Capital Region (NCR), Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon and Cordillera Administrative Region were affected.
The council also said 51 houses were wrecked while 3,127 were damaged.
The disaster monitoring bureau said 124 areas in the Ilocos Region, Calabarzon, and the NCR were flooded, but the water level in 74 areas has already subsided.
The government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development and local government units (LGU), has distributed a total of P44.49 million worth of assistance to the affected population.
Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde assured that police personnel are on standby to assist other government agencies during calamity response and search and rescue operations.
He said a total of 4,058 police personnel from the disaster response units have been deployed since weekend to provide assistance to LGUs in reaching stranded communities and evacuating residents living in high-risk areas.
Albayalde also said the PNP deployed the equipment needed for calamity response.
On Monday morning, together with National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Guillermo Eleazar, Albayalde conducted an aerial inspection of the areas badly hit by the enhanced southwest monsoon such as in Marikina and Bulacan.
Albayalde said in his assessment, the province of Bulacan was the hardest hit area as massive flooding is still being experienced there.
“Hanggang ngayon may mga bahay pa rin na lubog sa baha (sa Bulacan),” he said. (Some houses are still inundated.)
He said he has already alerted the the police commanders in the affected areas to ensure peace and order and the security of the residents.
Albayalde said aside from calamity response, they also remind them to continue the conduct of patrolling especially in the areas where families had to evacuate their houses to ensure their situation will not be taken advantage of by criminals especially the thieves. (SunStar Philippines)