Lucena, Calapan under state of calamity

LUCENA CITY — This city and Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro are now both under a state of calamity after flash floods triggered by continuous heavy rains since Monday night swept through majority of their barangays.

In this city, floodwaters have washed away at least 10 houses and forced 13,000 residents of 14 barangays to evacuate.

City Mayor Ramon Talaga told The STAR in a phone interview that the city council, in declaring the state of calamity, approved the initial release of P2 million for the purchase of food, clothing and medicines for the evacuees.

Heavy rains also spawned flash floods in Calapan City and in the Oriental Mindoro towns of Victoria, Naujan and Baco, causing heavy damage to harvestable crops and infrastructure.

In Calapan City alone, 48 of its 64 barangays were flooded, with the floodwaters feared to be still rising.

Calapan City Mayor Carlos Brucal has appealed for assistance from the national government and the private sector.

Talaga said city officials were still assessing the damage caused by the flash floods even as the evacuees have slowly been returning to their homes.

He recalled that the last time the city suffered such heavy flooding was during typhoon "Rosing" 10 years ago.

Former Maj. Gen. Glen Rabonza, administrator of the Office of Civil Defense, identified the flooded villages here as Barangay 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10, Market View, Mayao Crossing, Ibabang Dupay, Gulang-gulang, Cotta, Dalahican and Ibabang Iyam.

The evacuees are temporarily housed in barangay health centers, public school buildings and multipurpose halls.

In Atimonan, Quezon, two persons, including a teenager, were killed when mud and boulders buried their houses during a landslide.

Senior Superintendent Victorio Caragan, Quezon police director, identified the fatalities as Roderick Aranilla, 27, and Prelan Calinog, 13, both residents of Sitio Upper Sapinit, Barangay Silangan.

Caragan said workers of the Department of Public Works and Highways retrieved Aranilla’s body, while Calinog reached the Doña Martha Hospital in Atimonan alive but died a few minutes later.

Meanwhile, in Oriental Mindoro, aside from the 48 barangays in Calapan City, also flooded were 13 barangays in Victoria town, 17 in Naujan, and six in Pinamalayan and Soccoro after the Bucayao River overflowed.

Superintendent Policarpio Lopez, Calapan police chief, said in a phone interview that the protection dike along the Mag-Asawang Tubig River in Barangay Del Pilar gave way last Tuesday.

Lopez said 1,500 residents evacuated after chest-high floodwaters swept through their homes. — With Jaime Laude