'PEPENG' SUBMERGED PANGASINAN TOWNS
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - This aerial survey done by the Philippine Coast Guard yesterday shows
flooding in Rosales, Pangasinan. EDD GUMBAN
|LINGAYEN, Pangasinan , Philippines]
LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN, OCTOBER 10, 2009 (STAR) By Eva Visperas - Typhoon “Pepeng” dumped more rain yesterday, leaving over 67 percent of this province submerged as it finally headed out of the country to the South China Sea.
Widespread flooding caused by heavy rains since Wednesday has isolated the major population centers of this province.
Officials said 29 towns and the cities of Dagupan, Urdaneta and San Carlos were submerged, making it more difficult to coordinate rescue and evacuation efforts.
Heavy military trucks could not penetrate the roads, most of them submerged in about three feet of floodwaters, as provincial officials led by Gov. Amado Espino appealed for outside help.
Initial reports said five people drowned while almost two million people were affected by the flooding, which was worsened by the discharge of excess water from dams already brimming from recent heavy rains.
The Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) identified one casualty as Belfry Espraguerra, a 12-year-old who reportedly drowned in Poblacion East, Umingan town.
Four others also drowned in Sison town, the PSWDO said in its initial report.
Officials of the Philippine National Red Cross based in Dagupan City added 317,000 families or more than 1.8 million residents had been affected by the flooding.
Over 25,000 families from 295 barangays have been evacuated.
Pangasinan Vice Gov. Marlyn Primicias 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 inundated 30 out of 46 towns along the Agno River in the province, Pangasinan provincial information officer Boots Velasco said.
“There was really heavy rain, so water had to be released from the dam, otherwise it would have been more dangerous,” state weather bureau chief Nathaniel Cruz said.
“Even our office was flooded and our staff had to move to the rooftop. It’s near the river that they were monitoring,” he said.
Among the towns adversely affected were Rosales, Bautista, Alcala, Bayambang, Sto. Tomas, Urbiztondo, San Manuel, Calasiao, Tayug, Asingan, Natividad, Sta. Maria, Villasis, Mapandan, Binalonan, Tayug, Laoac, Pozurrobio, Sison, San Fabian, Basista, San Jacinto, Aguilar, San Quintin, Umingan, Sta. Barbara, Balungao, Manaoag and the provincial capital of Lingayen.
Villasis town Mayor Nonato Abrenica said rain and water released from the dams caused floods to rise quickly, isolating his town.
Alcala town mayor Manuel Collado went on air to appeal for help from the national government in Manila.
“There are still stranded people. We have village officials trying to rescue them using bamboo rafts,” Collado said in a television interview.
“We called the national government for help but they said all their rubber boats are already out so we are building these bamboo rafts in the meantime,” he said.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reportedly requested the US Embassy to redeploy hundreds of American troops from the massive cleanup in and around Metro Manila to the flood-hit areas in the north.
Two US Navy ships were positioning in the Lingayen Gulf to provide helicopters and rubber boats for the rescue mission in the province, said US Marine Capt. Jorge Escatell.
Trapped
Rosales Mayor Ricardo Revita, on the other hand, feared the death toll would increase, particularly in the town where several families are living near the Agno River.
Many residents clambered up to their rooftops but were not rescued.
Revita said thousands of motorists and commuters, including his own son, were forced to seek refuge at the SM department store in Carmen as they were prevented from wading into the raging floods.
Commuters trapped in stalled buses along the national highway in Rosales were forced to climb out through the vehicles’ windows and wade through the rampaging floodwaters to seek refuge at the shopping mall.
Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Armand Balilo said divers broke open the glass windows of two passenger buses to rescue the commuters trapped inside.
The Coast Guard said the town of Rosales was the most affected since it is precariously located along the swollen Agno River.
Coast Guard helicopters were dispatched to pluck out residents, some of them hanging on to treetops.
“We plucked two people who were hanging from a tree, one person holding on an electrical post and there was a cancer patient,” said Commodore Aaron Reconquista, chief of the Coast Guard Air Group.
Many residents were caught unaware by the immediate rise in the flood level, compounded by the water released by dams that were already on the verge of bursting, provincial administrator Raffy Rafanan added.
“We are trying to do our best but we need choppers and rubber boats,” he said.
Officials said the San Roque Dam in the province released excess water during the height of the rains brought by storm Pepeng.
The San Roque Dam, located in the town of San Manuel, recorded 289.1 meters of water. The critical level is 290 meters.
The excessive rains also damaged a total of 10 dikes and spillways in the province. Officials said the six spillway gates at 1.5 meters high had discharged excess water at 2,023 cubic meters per second.
The Ambayaoan Bridge in San Nicolas collapsed, as did the dike in Bued River in San Fabian.
The Sison Bridge going to the town of Rosario in La Union also collapsed.
Pagasa said rains would still prevail over northern and central Luzon in the next few days as Pepeng exits.
As of 4 p.m. yesterday, the eye of Pepeng was spotted some 130 kilometers west of Vigan City, Ilocos Sur with maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour near the center.
Storm signal no. 1 remained hoisted over Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and western Pangasinan as of 5 p.m. yesterday.
Pepeng had been hanging over northern Luzon for almost a week after initially arriving as a typhoon on Oct. 3.
The tropical storm, which had been downgraded from a super typhoon, had claimed 25 lives over the past week, with 39 people missing, the Office of Civil Defense said.
Pepeng (international codename Parma) hit the Philippines exactly one week after tropical storm “Ondoy” (Ketsana) dumped the heaviest rains in more than four decades in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, killing more than 300 people. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Helen Flores, Evelyn Macairan, Cesar Ramirez, Rudy Fernandez, AP