Quezon City declares state of calamity

MANILA, Philippines — Several parts of Metro Manila have been affected by Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, with the Quezon City government declaring a state of calamity yesterday following heavy rainfall and flooding that affected several parts of the city, leading to the evacuation of thousands of families.

In Marikina and Manila, thousands of families have been evacuated to shelters. Malabon and Valenzuela, meanwhile, are managing with their disaster response amid heavy flooding across the cities.

The Quezon City council held a special session to tackle the proposed resolution declaring the state of calamity, which authorized the city government to access available city and barangay calamity funds to respond to the impact of the storm.

The city council also approved a separate resolution lifting the earlier state of calamity declared due to Typhoon Carina and the enhanced southwest monsoon in July.

Mayor Joy Belmonte visited several evacuation centers to lead the distribution of relief supplies and check on the status of evacuees. She earlier convened the city’s disaster risk reduction and management council to prepare for the storm.

The local government implemented preemptive evacuation in several low-lying barangays, with various agencies put on standby to prepare for emergencies.

As of yesterday afternoon, over 2,500 families composed of 8,880 people are still in 38 evacuation centers put up in 26 barangays.

The City Engineering Office inspected affected areas, including a retaining wall that collapsed in Barangay Bagong Silangan.

The Quezon City local government reminded residents that retaining walls cannot be used as part of structures, including houses.

The city’s Parks Development and Administration Department, along with other agencies, also conducted clearing operations to remove fallen trees and other debris along roads.

2,000 families in Marikina

In Marikina, over 2,000 families were displaced as Kristine dumped rains over the city on Thursday.

Mayor Marcelino Teodoro said 2,135 households or 10,556 people took shelter in evacuation centers amid the heavy rains.

Teodoro ordered preemptive evacuation of residents from low-lying areas hours before the Marikina River reached the first alarm on Thursday night.

The river reached second alarm at 9:34 p.m., while the water level peaked at 16.8 meters at around 11 p.m. The water level returned to normal at 14.9 meters yesterday at around 10:30 a.m.

Malabon, Valenzuela still flooded

Several areas in Malabon and Valenzuela remained flooded yesterday morning, affecting road conditions and traffic in the cities.

According to reports from Malabon’s disaster risk reduction and management office (DRRMO), multiple streets in different barangays were still inundated.

Floodwater levels in the city ranged from two to 12 inches deep, but most roads were passable to all types of vehicles. At around 1 p.m., streets in Barangay Ibaba, including Vidal, Syjuco and Tiangco streets, had floodwaters of up to five inches.

The area around Dulong Herrera reported the highest water level, at seven inches. In Barangay San Agustin, parts of Rizal Avenue and F. Sevilla had four to five inches of water, while flooding on Abba Street in Barangay Tinajeros, which reached 12 inches earlier, had subsided by 2 p.m.

The Malabon DRRMO confirmed that traffic conditions across the city were normal despite the remaining floodwaters.

In Valenzuela, the city’s DRRMO reported that MacArthur Highway remained passable to all types of vehicles, although sections of Barangay Dalandanan and Cuevas Street in Barangay Malanday had floods four to 10 inches deep.

The Lingunan Bridge area, with water reaching up to 19 inches, was deemed not passable for light vehicles.

Other streets such as G. Lazaro, Martin Ville and A. Santos in Barangay Pasolo had floods from three to eight inches deep, but remained accessible to vehicles. Traffic in most areas was manageable despite flooding.

Flooding in Manila

Portions of the city of Manila suffered Kristine’s wrath even as the storm was leaving Luzon.

Long stretches of Roxas Boulevard and Taft Avenue, which are both near Manila Bay, as well as España Boulevard were submerged in several inches of floods since 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Motorists drove slowly to prevent water from entering the vehicle, while commuters struggled to find public transport such as jeepneys.

Powerful winds blew in other parts of Manila, strong enough to carry people away and knock down trees, particularly in Intramuros and along Roxas Boulevard.

The stormy weather forced an estimated 1,000 families, mostly living in Baseco Compound and Isla Puting Bato in Tondo, to leave their homes and seek shelter at the Delpan Evacuation Center, according to the Manila Public Information Office.

During her visit to the facility, Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan saw some families staying in rooms, while others stayed along the hallways and in a nearby court.

She appealed to residents from the six puroks or communities in Isla Puting Bato to stay at the site in the meantime, as intermittent rains continued to pour over Manila.

The city government gave hot meals and food boxes to displaced residents.

Some evacuees returned to their homes as only cloudy weather persisted in the city as of noon yesterday, the city government reported.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration had placed Metro Manila under red rainfall warning, which alerted people to “serious flooding,” as well as under tropical cyclone wind signal number 2, with winds gusting between 62 to 88 kilometers per hour. – Emmanuel Tupas, Mark Ernest Villeza, Ghio Ong