Glenda pummels Luzon

MANILA, Philippines - The first strong typhoon of the rainy season threw the capital into darkness, shut down businesses, forced the evacuation of thousands and killed more than a dozen people across the country.

Typhoon Glenda (international name Rammasun) battered Metro Manila and several provinces in Central and Southern Luzon with powerful winds and heavy rain, uprooting trees, cutting communication lines and leaving wide areas without power before exiting toward the West Philippine Sea yesterday.

Mario Palafox, senior weather forecaster of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), said the typhoon slightly changed course yesterday morning, heading in a more westerly direction.

Had it moved northwest, Metro Manila would have received the brunt of its fury.

The death count varies, with estimates as high as 18. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), in a meeting with President Aquino in the afternoon, reported only seven fatalities, six injured and one missing.

Chief weather forecaster Rene Paciente said they were closely monitoring a new low-pressure area some 1,090 kilometers east of the Visayas.

PAGASA lowered the storm signal in areas affected by the typhoon. Signal no. 1 remained hoisted over Laguna, Batangas, northern part of Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, Zambales, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bataan, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Lubang Island, Pangasinan and Metro Manila as of 5 p.m.

Signal no. 2 was still raised over La Union, Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Southern Aurora, northern Quezon including Polillo Islands, Laguna, Batangas and northern Occidental and Oriental Mindoro.

As of 4 p.m. yesterday, the eye of Glenda was spotted over the West Philippine Sea at 160 kilometers west of Zambales with maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 170 kph. It was forecast to move west northwest at 24 kph.

Glenda was the strongest typhoon to make landfall in the Philippines so far this year.

The closest the eye got to Manila was about 25 kilometers south of the city at around 7. a.m., Palafox said.

Glenda, packing winds of 150 kph and gustiness of up to 185 kph, passed Manila Bay at 8 a.m. yesterday before heading to Bataan.

Glenda also crossed Subic, Zambales before moving to the West Philippine Sea at noon.

PAGASA said maintenance checkups are being undertaken on the Doppler radars in Subic and Tagaytay after Glenda passed these areas.

Paciente said residents in areas affected by Glenda can expect improved weather today.

Glenda will be at 630 km west of Dagupan City or outside the Philippine area of responsibility this afternoon.

Paciente said the low-pressure area was still far from the Philippine area of responsibility and it was too early to predict if it would intensify into a cyclone and hit the country. He also said the new weather disturbance will not affect Glenda’s movement.

He also ruled out the possibility of Glenda making a U-turn and hitting the country again.

The weather agency, meanwhile, continued to warn operators of fishing boats and other small seacraft not to venture out to the western seaboard of Luzon due to big waves generated by the typhoon.

Fatalities

There were 15 reported fatalities in the Calabarzon region, two in Metro Manila and one each from Bulacan and Occidental Mindoro.

Fire volunteer John Patrick Diaz, 20, and Jackelyn Sumampong were both pinned under walls that collapsed in Pasig City and Valenzuela City, respectively, said Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino.

Vicente Tomazar, head of disaster risk reduction and management council in Region 4A, identified five of the fatalities as Felizardo Ramos, 70; Restituto Tolentino, 60; Angelica Garinio, 60, Butch Ranin, 58 and 11-month-old Reynce Benedict Laborada.

In Lucena, Quezon, Nenita Artificio, 48, and her children Arlene, 21, and Adrian, 8, died when a firewall collapsed on them at the height of the typhoon.

Three other fatalities in Quezon were identified as Rodel de Luna, John Paulo Mendez, 7, and an infant.

In Bulacan, 49-year-old Reynaldo Meneses was crushed to death when an acacia tree fell on his store in Plaridel town.

Angelica Peral of Cainta was also crushed by a falling acacia tree.

In Occidental Mindoro, a 17-year-old boy identified as Jaymak Sison drowned in Magsaysay town, according a local social welfare officer.

Tales of survival

“I thought I was going to die. I went out to look for gasoline in case we needed to evacuate, but it was a mistake,” said tricycle driver Pedro Rojas, 35, as he nursed a cut in the head while sheltering at a town hall on the outskirts of Manila.

“My tricycle rolled over twice after I slammed into sheets of rain. It was like hitting a wall... huge tin roofings were flying everywhere,” he said in Filipino.

The winds also tore down shanty homes in slum areas where hundreds of thousands of people live along Manila Bay.

“Our house was destroyed and we lost many of our belongings,” housewife Dayang Bansuan said as she rested in a school that had been turned into an evacuation center for people living in the coastal Manila slums.

“We fled our home just before dawn when the water started rising up to our ankles. I was really frightened, they (neighbors) were saying the winds were getting stronger. They were telling us to evacuate,” she said.

Areas devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda in November last year felt only light rain and winds on Tuesday and yesterday, but that was enough to send panic through some survivors who are still struggling to rebuild their communities.

“I feared we were going to relive our nightmare, when we had to swim for our lives,” said fisherman Alfredo Cojas, 49, who left his shanty home in Leyte for an evacuation center. “This typhoon wasn’t that strong, but we have a phobia about these things now.”

Clearing work

At Malacañang, President Aquino directed the NDRRMC and its local councils to expedite clearing and recovery operations in typhoon-hit areas.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin reported that as of 4 p.m. yesterday, there were six reported dead, six injured and one missing.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson reported minimal flooding and no major damage to roads, bridges and buildings.

Undersecretary Alexander Pama, NDRRMC executive director, pointed out that the preparedness of local councils, headed by provincial governors and city and town mayors, was a major factor in minimizing casualties and injuries.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman also cited the high level of citizen awareness and cooperation in disaster preparedness efforts.

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said that the department’s price monitoring teams had been fielded to ensure that prices and supplies of prime commodities were stable.

MMDA’s Tolentino reported that clearing and recovery teams were working round the clock to clear major roads of debris and fallen electric posts and cables, Coloma said.

Earlier yesterday, residents in low-lying and mountainous areas were advised to be on alert for flashfloods and landslides.

The regional disaster risk reduction and management council in Region 3 reported that hundreds of families in Central Luzon, particularly those living in flood and landslide prone areas, were evacuated to higher ground for safety.With Evelyn Macairan, Arnell Ozaeta, Michelle Zoleta, Mike Frialde, Juancho Mahusay, Ed Amoroso, Non Alquitran, Jaime Laude, Ric Sapnu, Alexis Romero, Celso Amo, Aurea Calica, Eva Visperas, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Dino Balabo, Ding Cervantes, Danny Dangcalan, Cesar Ramirez, Artemio Dumlao, Jun Elias, Cet Dematera