floods toy with rubber boats, delay rescues

DAGUPAN, Pangasinan – The streets in this province have become turbulent rivers tossing around rescue boats like they were bathtub toys, preventing access to untold numbers waiting to be saved. “Malakas kasi ang alon kaya hirap na hirap sila (The strong currents make it difficult for them)," provincial administrator Rafael Baraan told GMANews.TV, referring to the rescue teams in rubber boats trying to reach flooded communities. Five people have been confirmed dead in Pangasinan, but the number is expected to rise once the rain stops and the floods ebb, leaving victims in their wake. “The total picture will probably start to unfold tomorrow," Baraan said on Friday.The five bodies were retrieved in Sison town, according to Baraan, adding that their identities and causes of death could not yet be determined.Baraan said the hardest-hit areas, which include the towns of Villasis, Rosales, Calasiao, Sta. Barbara and San Fabian, are in dire need of rescue and evacuation. About 60 percent of the province has been reported to be underwater. As of Friday night, nearly 30,000 people in 36 towns and cities have been affected by Pepeng in the whole of the province. The release of water from San Roque Dam has combined with the rainfall to cause the worst floods here in the memory of many old-timners. In Dagupan City, where floodwaters are waist-deep, many residents remain in their homes despite orders to evacuate to higher ground. Among them is 54-year-old Jose Caguia, father of seven, who continues to stay with his wife in their flooded house in Brgy. Lucao.“(‘Yung) mga gamit e, tinitingnan namin (We’re looking after our things)," Jose said when asked why he refuses to be evacuated. Hunger may finally drive him out, since they may be out of food by Saturday. He may not have to go far. Residents have been catching bangus in the flood waters ever since the storm ruined fish pens and released the food fish, one of Pangasinan's leading products, into the rivers running through the streets.