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Stay home, don’t clog roads, NDCC chief urges public


As rains continued to pour over Luzon, the National Disaster Coordinating Center (NDCC) on Saturday urged residents of Metro Manila and nearby areas to stay home if there is nothing urgent for them to do outside. “I urge the public not to go out if they have no urgent business. Don’t clog the thoroughfares," Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said on nationwide television and radio as hundreds of villages and roads were reported to be submerged in floods as high as two meters.


I urge the public not to go out if they have no urgent business. Don’t clog the thoroughfares
– DND Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
Teodoro, who is chairman of the NDCC, said he himself was forced to use the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) on his way to office in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, from Pasay City because there was no passable road. Rains have been pouring continuously since Friday night in what the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said was an effect of tropical storm “Ondoy." Ondoy, which originated in the central Pacific Ocean, made landfall in the eastern province of Aurora before noon Saturday with maximum winds of 85 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 100 kph. It was moving west-northwest across Central Luzon and was expected to exit into the South China Sea in the night. As a result of the storm, Teodoro said the NDCC placed 25 provinces and Metro Manila under a state of calamity. The provinces are Aurora, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Quezon, Isabela, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Benguet, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Marinduque, Camarines Norte, and Bataan. Swollen creeks forced many residents in some communities on to the roofs of their homes and they were calling for help to evacuate.
DISASTER EMERGENCY HOTLINES YOU CAN CALL
These are the hotlines that our citizenry can call for disaster emergency situations, especially urgent rescue and relief needs. National Disaster Coordinating Committee 911-1873 912-5296 912-2665 Philippine Coast Guard 527-6136 Red Cross 143 527-0000 Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) 136 Taguig emergency hotline 1623 Bureau of Fire Protection Region III (Central Luzon) Hotline (045) 9634376
The NDCC announced emergency numbers to call but callers complained that the lines were always busy. NDCC officials said they were also swamped by endless calls. They urged residents threatened by rising flood waters to evacuate to higher ground because all their rescuers were in the field responding to emergencies. GMANews.TV was also flooded with calls for help mostly from residents of the towns of Rodriguez (formerly Montalban) and San Mateo in Rizal province, who said they could not connect to the NDCC or municipal offices. Among the calls received were from Barangay Malay in San Mateo, Humanity Village in Bagong Silangan, Quezon City, Agora Market in San Juan, Ablaza Bldg. along E. Rodriguez Ave in Quezon City, Marigold Subd. in Rodriguez, Rizal; Vista Verde in Cainta, Rizal. The Delos Santos Medical Center along E. Rodriguez Ave., Quezon City reported flooding in its basement where doctor’s clinics and the canteen were located, while the ground floor of St. Clare’s Medical Center along Dian St. in Makati was under water. More calls came from Baybay Sapa in Antipolo, Rizal; Block 50, Pipino St. in Tumama Concepcion, Marikina; Block 13, Lot 14, Phase 2, in Dela Costa, Rodriguez, Rizal; Eastern View Park Subd., in San Mateo Rizal; and Balubad Settlement in Langka, Marikina. Elizabeth Marie G. Ledina sent an e-mail calling for rescue for her sister Debbie Gonzales-Ocampo and her family at 10-B Monaco Street, Loyola Grand Villas, Concepcion, Marikina City, who she said are trapped at the 2nd level of their house. “The flood is reaching the second level," she said. A text message from a resident of Manila said: “Urgent request for my relative … pls rescue my relatives at Lilac St. in SSS Village, Marikina." - GMANews.TV
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