'Ondoy' leaves 53 dead, 23 others missing

At least 53 people, including 42 in the province of Rizal, were left dead, as tropical storm 'Ondoy" left the Philippine area of responsibility on Sunday morning, authorities said. The main office of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) in Quezon City said 44 of those confirmed dead came from Calabarzon in southern Luzon, six from Metro Manila, and one from the Cordillera Region.

Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III said the fatalities from his province were from the towns of Tanay, Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Baras, Theresa, and Angono. The NDCC reported that 23 still-unidentified people were confirmed dead in Tanay, 10 in Angono, 5 in Baras, 3 in Rodriguez and one in Theresa. In an interview over radio dzRH late Saturday, Ynares said many more were missing in other towns but he could not yet give details. In a report, Tony Mateo, a spokesperson for the Rizal province, told the Associated Press that flash floods and landslides killed most of these people in five townships in the province on Saturday. He said 27 others are missing. A report by radio dzBB identified one of the fatalities in Rodriguez town as Victor Salvan, 44, who was said to have died as he tried to help his daughter wade in floodwaters. The report said Salvan, a resident of Dela Costa 5 Subdivision, was suspected by rescuers to have suffered a heart attack and drowned. Also included in the fatalities from southern Luzon are Ronel Morsia, 27, who died after being hit by a fallen tree in Calaca, Batangas, and Aurelio Flistado, 50, who drowned in the flood in Quezon province. The NDCC further said three of those confirmed dead were reported in Manila’s southern suburb of Muntinlupa, two others in Quezon City, one in Marikina City and one in San Juan. All the fatalities from Metro Manila remain unidentified as of posting time. Another casualty was a 49-year-old man named Eyo Cadang, who died of cardiac arrest at about 11 a.m., as floods began to inundate his home in Paete town of Laguna province, an NDCC regional official said. "Paglakas ng hangin at ulan at pagtaas ng tubig sa kanilang lugar, 'yun siguro ang nag-trigger ng kanyang cardiac arrest (Perhaps his cardiac arrest was triggered when the winds and the rains intensified and flood waters rose)," engineer Jensorel Hazareno of the Laguna Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council told GMANews.TV by phone. The NDCC likewise reported 23 others missing, including 9-year-old Mack-Mack Galang from Arayat, Pampanga, and Pihet Cabiag from Kabayan, Benguet, who were both said to be covered by a separate landslides in their areas. Television and radio reports said four children were also swept away by a swollen creek in barangay San Jose in Antipolo City, also in Rizal, but officials could not give any confirmation. There were no reports of casualties so far in other provinces, including Bulacan, Pampanga, and Zambales, which were in the direct path of Ondoy as it swept west-northwest. As of 4 a.m., the storm was seen moving further away from the country over the South China Sea, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa). Ondoy, the 15th tropical cyclone to enter the Philippines this year, packed center winds of 95 kph, which is considered by weather officials to be not that strong. But the Pagasa said the storm generated non-stop rains over most of Luzon and islands to the south such as Mindoro, causing the floods. About 13.4 inches (34.1 centimeters) of rain fell on metropolitan Manila in just six hours, close to the 15.4-inch (39.2-centimeter) average for the entire month of September. The previous record was 13.2 inches (33.4 centimeters) recorded during a 24-hour period in June 1967, chief government weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said. "However good your drainage system is, it will be overwhelmed by that amount of rainfall," he told The Associated Press. In Bulacan, Gov. Jonjon Mendoza said heavy flooding affected several towns and thousands of residents have fled to evacuation centers. But flooding was most pronounced in low-lying parts of Metro Manila and some towns in nearby Rizal province. Mayor Mon Ilagan of Cainta, Rizal province, said the whole town “is almost 100 percent underwater." Ilagan said he himself was stranded atop a dump truck on a road that was neck-deep in water, and many residents were atop roofs to escape rising flood waters. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who presided over a crisis meeting of the NDCC, ordered the military, national police and coast guard rescue teams to focus their efforts in rescue operations in Rizal and other places in Metro Manila. The Metro Manila Development Authority and local government units were also swamped with calls for help by residents in heavily flooded villages. - GMANews.TV and AP