Central Luzon folk bracing for new storm

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga , Philippines  – Still reeling from adversities caused by tropical storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng,” thousands of Central Luzon residents, particularly those living near the Pampanga River, were told yesterday to brace anew for an approaching “super typhoon.”

“We have not even had the time to fully lift the alert in still flooded towns, particularly in the fourth district in Pampanga, now we have to tell them we are raising full alert again because of the approaching typhoon,” Filipina Sevilla, chief of the Pampanga Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC), told The STAR.

Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz, Central Luzon police director and Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) head, said, “We are now on the watch. We will enforce evacuation anytime if we see that the situation would warrant this.”

In Nueva Ecija, PDCC officer Efraim Leonardo said all evacuees, except the 19 whose homes were buried by landslides in Barangay Puncan in Carranglan town, have gone home.

“But we are again raising the alert in towns affected by the pathway of water releases from the Pantabangan Dam, particularly those traversed by the Pampanga River,” he said.

Because of the approaching typhoon, evacuation alerts were again issued to residents in riverside communities in the towns of Rizal, Bongabon, Quezon, Zaragosa and San Antonio, he said.

Nathaniel Cruz, deputy administrator of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, said the tropical storm with international name “Lupit” was expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility last night or early today.

Said to have the potential to become a super typhoon, the storm would be named “Ramil” once it entered Philippine territory. It would be the 18th storm to enter the country this year.

Sevilla said Masantol, Macabebe, San Simon, San Luis, Candaba, Sto. Tomas, Minalin, and Apalit towns in Pampanga’s fourth district have remained flooded since Ondoy battered Luzon last Sept. 26.

Civil defense authorities have also raised an alert for Ramil in disaster-prone areas in Baguio City and other parts of the Cordillera region.         – With Artemio Dumlao