Pampanga under state of calamity due to floods

Pampanga was placed under a state of calamity on Monday afternoon after floods left by Tropical Storm Falcon (Meari) continued to swamp majority of its 21 towns. The floods — which currently inundates 18 municipalities — are caused by water coming down from mountains surrounding the province, according to a GMA News TV report Monday night. On Tuesday morning, Gov. Lilia Pineda told GMA News TV's News To Go that even if Falcon has already left the country, they still needed to declare a state of calamity so they could use the province's calamity fund in repairing dikes, cleaning up tributaries, and ridding rivers of water hyacinths. "Nag-declare kami ng state of calamity kasi ngayon lang kami talaga maglilinis at maggagawa ng dike kasi pag hindi ka nag-delcare ay hindi mo magagamit ang calamity funds," Pineda said. "Ngayong walang ulan, ngayon kami dapat nagtatrabaho kasi kapag tumaas uli ang tubig baka magkaproblema kami," she added.

Pineda said most affected by the flashfloods are the low-lying towns in the province like Candaba, Masantol, Macabebe, Guagua, Sasmuan, and parts of Lubao — which all remain inundated by knee-deep foods. Aside from a state of calamity, classes in these affected towns remain suspended. Latest government data showed more than 100,000 families from 283 villages were affected by the floods since Friday last week. Damage to agriculture in the province was pegged at P148 million, while damage to poultry, fisheries, and livestock was placed at around P3.3 million. "Kailangan magkaroon ng government study kasi iba ang lugar namin. Kami ang puso ng central Luzon... Ang tubig sa Auora, Tarlac, Mount Pinatubo, etc, dito lahat bumabagsak sa amin," she said. Pineda said it takes a long time for floodwaters to flow out of Pampanga, which is a "catch-basin" of rainwaters coming from neighboring provinces. The governor appealed to the local provincial governments of neighboring Bulacan and Tarlac to "share" the funds channeled to them by the national government to create sturdier concrete dikes. Authorities feared it would take around a week before the floodwater subsides in Pampanga, the television report added. Falcon left the country last Saturday and headed towards Japan, causing weather disturbances in Taiwan, which was along its path. The government said Falcon left at least three people dead. — Mark Merueñas/RSJ, GMA News