3 cities in North Luzon still paralyzed by floods

A total of 41 areas - 38 towns and three cities - in the Ilocos Region remain flooded as of Sunday night, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said Monday.



In its 6 a.m. report, the NDCC said that still flooded are 23 towns and three cities in Pangasinan; nine towns in La Union; one in Ilocos Sur; and five in Ilocos Norte.

The NDCC said tropical cyclone "Pepeng" (Parma), which entered the country as a typhoon and subsequently weakened into a tropical depression, affected at least 521,531 families or 2,414,108 people in 3,929 villages in 351 towns and 34 cities in 27 provinces in Luzon, Western Visayas, Cordillera, and Metro Manila.

On the other hand, the death toll stayed at 199, including 53 from the Ilocos Region, 137 from Cordillera, four from Central Luzon, one from Quezon province, and four from Bicol.

Around 154 were injured while 50 remained missing.

The casualty figures, however, exclude those from tropical storm "Ondoy" (Ketsana).

The NDCC said some 2,968 houses were destroyed while 22,857 were damaged.

Damage to property was estimated at P5.083 billion, including P1.09 billion in infrastructure and P3.991 billion in agriculture.


It also said that 56 road sections and nine bridges in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, and Pangasinan remained impassable or hardly passable due to landslides and mudslides.

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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.