700 families evacuated as floodwaters swamp Bulacan town

Around 700 families were forcibly evacuated from their homes in Calumpit town in Bulacan province after floodwaters there rose quickly Sunday night even if it was not raining. Radio dzBB’s Denevin Macaranas reported that the floodwaters started rising as early as 6 p.m. Sunday, amid a power failure in the area. Floodwaters were chest-deep as of 5 a.m. in several areas in Calumpit Monday, even as 24 of the town’s 29 villages were flooded. The report said that as of 5 a.m., the MacArthur Highway in Caniogan village was no longer passable because of floods. In Calizon village, floods reached to roofs of houses. Also, the report said that some residents suspected that released water from dams must have caused the floods, but there was no official statement about the cause of the floods yet. As of Saturday, the Pantabangan Dam gates were already closed, a dzBB report said Monday. As of 7 a.m., flooding in Calizon was severe that travel going to the village was possible only through boats. While there was no initial report of casualties, rescue teams said they could not immediately get to the flooded sites. In Northville in Iba Este Village, families were forcibly evacuated after floodwaters from Nueva Ecija and Pampanga provinces spilled over to Bulacan. The families were brought to the Calumpit National High School and San Marcos Elementary School. In an interview on dzBB Monday morning, Calumpit town Mayor James de Jesus said that eight villages were severely flooded. "Walo sa aming mga barangay ay lubog sa lubog sa baha na may lalim na mula four hanggang seven feet, at accessible lamang ang mga ito through rubber boats (eight of our barangays have floods ranging from four to seven feet deep and are only accessible through rubber boats)," De Jesus said. "Palagi nalang nagbabaha dito sa amin kapag bumabaha sa ibang mga probinsya (Flooding in Calumpit is a perennial problem because floodwaters from other provinces drain in Bulacan), he added. Four villages were spared from flooding due to a cement pocket dike. These included Poblacion, Sucol, Balungao, and Corazon. Other flooded villages included San Miguel, Caniogan, Gugo and Bulusan. Calumpit is a first-class municipality with a population of 98,017 people in 16,167 households.- GMANews.TV