Manila submerged as relentless rains cause flooding and landslides
| Nine people have died and tens of thousands are in need of emergency rescue after relentless rains triggered a landslide in the Philippine capital, Manila. Emergency crews are scrambling to reach trapped residents who called media outlets pleading for help as swathes of the city became submerged. The deluge, the worst since 2009 when hundreds died in rampaging flash floods, was set off by the seasonal monsoon that overflowed major dams and rivers in Manila and the surrounding provinces. |  |
Love conquers all: Filipino newlyweds share a kiss while knee-deep in floodwaters, as the country braces for a fresh deluge
When it's your big day, come rain or shine you have to make the best of it.
These Filipino newlyweds showed love conquers all when they pushed through with their scheduled wedding despite severe flooding that inundated wide areas of Manila and nine nearby provinces.
Ramoncito Campo and Hernelie Ruazol Campo were pictured sharing this touching kiss after they exchanged vows with water up to their knees in a Catholic church in the Filipino capital.
Love conquers all: Ramoncito Campo kisses his wife Hernelie Ruazol Campo on a flooded street on Wednesday during the aftermath of a monsoon that battered Manila, causing an estimated 66 deaths
For wet or for dry? Mr and Mrs Campo share a more passionate kiss in the flooded church where they were wed
They were pictured in the flooded church and nearby streets last wednesday, as the Philippines recovered from a tropical storm which left an estimated 66 people dead and affected a millions more.
To the traditional wedding vow of 'for better and for worse', the new Mr and Mrs Campo could have perhaps added their own promise, 'for wet or for dry'.
And if they had made that pledge the time may already come for it to be tested as officials have warned that a new storm has been spotted off the country's north-east which is expected to bolster monsoon rains.
Manila's weather agency says the tropical depression was whirling over the Pacific Ocean today with sustained winds of 55km (34 miles) per hour. It was about 750km (465 miles) from Aurora province.
It says the storm is unlikely hit land, but is expected to bring 'heavy to intense' monsoon rains over parts of northern Luzon island and central and southern provinces.
Desperate: Filipino rescuers dig for survivors after a landslide destroys four homes in Quezon City, north of the capital Manila
Heart-breaking: Rescue workers battled to reach a family buried beneath the mud
Deadly flooding: A man (left) uses a plastic container as a floating device to swim to higher ground during a flood in Marikina, Manila, while another holds his shoes aloft as he swims down a street
Clinging on: A family flee their flooded home with the help of a rubber boat as the downpour continues
Race against time: Rescuers and disaster management teams rushed to evacuate residents in low-lying areas of Manila
'Water-world': The head of the government's disaster response agency said half of Metropolitan Manila had been flooded
The expected deluges will hamper efforts to clean up after last weekend's lethal flooding, which sent 400,000 fleeing their homes with the rains only beginning to ease on Wednesday.
Officials in the Philippines said today they will mobilise thousands to clean up Manila as evacuees return to clear mud and debris that swamped their homes.
Civil defence chief Benito Ramos said that police, soldiers, coast guard personnel and military reservists will be used to help the city recover from its worst flooding since 2009.
Hundreds of volunteers who helped in rescue and relief work in the early days of the floods will also help in the clean-up.
The Office of Civil Defence said today the floods had left at least 66 people dead and affected up to 2.68 million people in Manila and nearby provinces, with more than 440,000 fleeing to evacuation centres.
'The mounds of garbage and muck are terrible,' Mr Ramos said. 'This is embarrassing to foreigners.'
Brave gesture: A man (left) wades up to his waist to bring food and hot drinks to people staying inside their flooded homes in Quezon City, while others (right) climb over a shop to reach their property
In search of safety: A man carries a little girl on his shoulders as they cross a flooded area in Quezon City, north of Manila
Submerged: A man carries his bike through a flooded street (left) while another waits for rescuers, perched on the roof of his house
Another worry: In Quezon City, this pig's owner wrapped it up in a raincoat in a bid to protect it from illness
Corazon Jimenez, general manager of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, which is in charge of traffic management and rubbish disposal for the sprawling capital of 12 million, said part of the clean-up will involve collecting the garbage that has washed from creeks and rivers into Manila Bay.
'I can't describe this anymore. These are mountains of garbage,' she said.
Incessant rains from Sunday to Wednesday swelled rivers and creeks and overwhelmed drainage canals already clogged with rubbish, raising flood waters that at the peak submerged more than half of metropolitan Manila.
Timely arrival: Rescuers reach a man using a rubber dinghy and paddles as the deadly rains continue
Trapped: Motorists and passengers are stuck on the North Luzon Expressway as heavy rains continue in Valenzuela City, Manila
Saved: A flood victim talks to rescuers as she shelters under a huge umbrella
Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said authorities have already closed about 100 of 351 government-run shelters in the city as evacuees trickled home.
She said the government planned to relocate about half a million families in the capital, most of them living in 'danger zones' such as by river banks and under bridges.
'It can be done, but that would need a lot of help and a lot of political will from people involved,' she said.
She did not say how much the relocation would cost, but said funding was not a problem because of prudent spending by the government and anti-corruption measures.
Desperate: Filipino rescuers dig for survivors after a landslide destroys four homes in Quezon City, north of the capital Manila
Heart-breaking: Rescue workers battled to reach a family buried beneath the mud
The capital and other parts of the country were already sodden from last week's Typhoon Saola, which battered Manila and the north for several days before blowing away on Friday. That storm was responsible for at least 53 deaths.
Benito Ramos, head of the government's disaster response agency, said the rains had flooded 50 per cent of metropolitan Manila yesterday evening, and about 30 per cent is presently under waist- or neck-deep waters.
'It's like a water world,' he added.
Mr Ramos urged residents in areas prone to landslides and floods to stay in evacuation centres. Because the soil is saturated, even a little rain could be dangerous.
'Now that it's getting dark, I would like to repeat, if the rains are heavy you should be at the evacuation centers,' he said, warning that rescue operations are more difficult at night and could put responders at risk.
Deadly flooding: A man (left) uses a plastic container as a floating device to swim to higher ground during a flood in Marikina, Manila, while another holds his shoes aloft as he swims down a street
Clinging on: A family flee their flooded home with the help of a rubber boat as the downpour continues
Race against time: Rescuers and disaster management teams rushed to evacuate residents in low-lying areas of Manila
'Water-world': The head of the government's disaster response agency said half of Metropolitan Manila had been flooded
Manila's weather bureau said a tropical storm off eastern China had intensified monsoon rains in the Philippines, which were forecast to last until Thursday.
In Manila's suburban Quezon City, a landslide hit a row of shanties perched below a hill, burying nine people.
Army troops and police dug frantically to save those buried, including four children, as surviving relatives and neighbours wept. All the victims were recovered, including some whose bodies were entombed near the door of a shanty as they tried to flee.
'My wife, children and grandchild are down there,' a drenched Jessie Bailon told The Associated Press while watching rescuers dig into a muddy mound where his shanty once stood.
National police chief Nicanor Bartolome went to the scene and ordered all other slum-dwellers to be evacuated from the still-soggy area.
TV footage showed rescuers dangling on ropes to bring children and other residents to safety from flooded houses across the city. Many residents trapped in their homes called radio and TV stations desperately begging for help.
'We need to be rescued,' Josephine Cruz told DZMM radio as water rose around her house in Quezon City. She said she was trapped in her two-storey house with 11 other people, including her 83-year-old mother, adding, 'We can't get out because the floodwaters are now higher than people.'
Brave gesture: A man (left) wades up to his waist to bring food and hot drinks to people staying inside their flooded homes in Quezon City, while others (right) climb over a shop to reach their property
In search of safety: A man carries a little girl on his shoulders as they cross a flooded area in Quezon City, north of Manila
Submerged: A man carries his bike through a flooded street (left) while another waits for rescuers, perched on the roof of his house
ABC-CBN TV network reported receiving frantic calls from people whose relatives were trapped in the deluge, many without food since Tuesday morning. They included a pregnant woman with a baby who wanted to be rescued from a roof and about 55 people who scrambled to the third floor of a Quezon city house as water rose below them.
Vehicles and even heavy trucks struggled to navigate water-clogged roads, where hundreds of thousands of commuters were stranded. Many cars were stuck in the muddy waters.
The government suspended work and school classes on Tuesday and Wednesday. Some shopping malls opened with limited grocery supplies that were quickly picked up by shoppers waiting in long lines. The Philippine Stock Exchange in the flooded financial district of Makati was closed.
Timely arrival: Rescuers reach a man using a rubber dinghy and paddles as the deadly rains continue
Trapped: Motorists and passengers are stuck on the North Luzon Expressway as heavy rains continue in Valenzuela City, Manila
Saved: A flood victim talks to rescuers as she shelters under a huge umbrella
The La Mesa dam, which supplies water to the capital of 12 million people, spilled excess water early today into the rivers flowing into Quezon City, as well as the neighbourhoods of Malabon, Valenzuela and Caloocan, where several villages were submerged.
Along the swollen Marikina River, nearly 20,000 residents have been moved away from the riverbanks but many others are in need of to rescue. Mayor Del de Guzman pleaded for patience and said the overwhelmed rescue teams would try to reach everyone.
President Benigno Aquino III called an emergency meeting of Cabinet officials and disaster-response agencies. He ordered officials to make sure all residents were accounted for in flooded villages and discussed how flooded hospitals could be helped in case they were hit by power outages.
In 2009, massive flooding spawned by a typhoon devastated Manila and surrounding areas, killing hundreds. The state weather bureau said that the current flooding was not as severe and that the weather may start to improve later this week.
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