MANILA,
Philippines (AP) — Manila residents waded through waist-deep
floodwaters and dodged flying debris Tuesday as a powerful typhoon
struck the Philippines, killing at least 12 people and sending waves as tall as palm trees crashing over seawalls.
Most deaths occurred in metropolitan Manila, which already was soaked by heavy monsoon rains ahead of Typhoon Nesat's
arrival with more downpours and wind gusts of up to 93 mph (150 kph).
Downtown areas along Manila Bay suffered their worst flooding in
decades.
Pounding rains
obscured the view of anyone on the streets as soldiers and police
scrambled to safely evacuate thousands of people in low-lying areas,
where rivers and the sea spilled into shanties, hospitals, swanky hotels
and even the seaside U.S. Embassy compound.
"It's
flooded everywhere. We don't have a place to go for shelter. Even my
motorcycle got filled with water," said motorist Ray Gonzales, one of
thousands stranded by fast-rising floodwaters.
The
massive flooding came exactly a day after this sprawling, coastal city
of 12 million held two-year commemorations for the nearly 500 people
killed during a 2009 cyclone, which dumped a month's rainfall in just 12
hours. The geography of the archipelago makes it a welcome mat for
about 20 storms and typhoons from the Pacific each year.
Some
residents acted more quickly this time to evacuate homes as waters
rose, including in the Manila suburb of Marikina where 2,000 people
escaped the swelling river by flocking to an elementary school, carrying
pets, TV sets, bags of clothes and bottled water.
"We
can replace things, but not people's lives," said janitor Banny
Domanais, arriving at the school with his wife and three young
daughters.
Typhoon Nesat hit
ashore before dawn Tuesday in eastern provinces and headed inland just
north of Manila with up to an inch of rain per hour, half that of the
storm two years ago, said government forecaster Samuel Duran.
Emergency
workers evacuated river areas in Manila that are notorious for
flooding. In all, authorities ordered more than 100,000 people across
the country to shelter from the storm's sustained winds of up to 75 mph
(120 kph) and its rains — dropping from an immense 400-mile
(650-kilometer) cloud band.
Along
downtown Manila's historic baywalk, cars and buses were stuck and
residents struggled through floodwaters as waves washed over the
seawall, turning a six-lane highway into a huge brown river. Sidewalks
and buildings entrances were swamped.
In the financial district of Makati, a billboard fell on two cars and a bus, causing injuries.
Neck-deep
waters on the ground floor of the Manila Hospital forced staff to move
patients to higher floors and flooded generators left the facility
without power, spokeswoman Evangeline Morales said.
Soldiers
and police in trucks moved thousands of residents, mostly women and
children, from the Baseco shanty facing Manila port after many houses
were washed away. Male family members were reluctant to leave, saying
they wanted to guard their property.
The Philippine Stock Exchange and U.S. Embassy were closed.
Waters at the gates of the embassy compound reached chest-deep, and staff were told to stay home, spokeswoman Tina Malone said.
"There was some flooding in the embassy. I don't know the extent. I'm not there right now," Malone said.
The
Sofitel Philippine Plaza relocated its guests after flooding damaged
areas of the high-end hotel on the shores of Manila Bay. Sirinate
Meenakul, the hotel's regional communications director, said no guests
or staff were injured. She did not say how many guests were there.
Benito
Ramos, a retired army general who heads the Office of Civil Defense,
said authorities were still assessing the damage as the typhoon
continued to pummel some areas of the country. He said it was
heartwarming to see Filipinos remaining calm amid the unfolding crisis.
"We
see people on the roofs of their houses drinking gin and smiling and
waving," Ramos said. "Such resiliency helps them get by in stressful
times."
Seasonal monsoon rains
ahead of the typhoon plus winds pushing seawater inland had worsened
the situation, forecaster Duran told the AP. "Land is saturated with
rain so the next rain became run-off and was already floodwater," he
said.
The wind sent storm
surges over an embankment that then trapped water on the city side so
that it "couldn't flow back to the bay," said Francis Tolentino,
chairman of Metro Manila Development Authority.
President
Benigno Aquino III, on a state visit to Japan, told Associated Press
Television News he was confident that authorities were adequately
responding to flooding. He said he believed power would be restored to
most of the Philippine capital by Tuesday afternoon.
He
said in an earlier statement that the government had carried out
preventive evacuations, and that nearly half of the Luzon areas served
by the main power distributor were without electricity due to short
circuits caused by high winds.
The
first reported death was a 1-year-old boy who drowned in the central
island province of Catanduanes after falling into a creek, the
government disaster agency reported. As the typhoon's winds lashed
metropolitan Manila, a mother and child were killed when their house was
hit by a falling tree, and four were reported killed by a collapsing
wall.
Two others drowned,
while a man was buried in a landslide in Olongapo west of Manila and
another died in traffic collision. A 9-year-old girl was pinned to death
when a tree fell on a house in Pampanga province, north of Manila, said
regional disaster-response official Josefina Timeteo said.
Four
fishermen were missing while more than 50 others were rescued along
eastern shores after their boats overturned in choppy seas. Forecasters
warned of 12-foot-high (4-meter-high) waves.
The storm was expected to leave the Philippines late Tuesday and head into the South China Sea toward southern China.
(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/huge-floods-manila-typhoon-hits-philippines-024950749.html)
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What you see in the text above is an article about the never-ending rain that hit Metro Manila on August 7, 2012. (Actually, the rain stopped a few days later, but still! :D) Philippines is widely known as a welcome mat for all kinds of typhoons, storms and the like. The geographical placement of the Philippines is also conveniently placed in the Pacific Ring of Fire. This means that it also welcomes earthquakes. And when earthquakes are invited to the party, tsunamis tag along to join the fun. However, the effects of these natural disasters are NOT fun. Although, Filipinos find every little way to find happiness in such situations, it is seriously not fun. But moving on to the topic, this "never-ending rain" was initially mistaken as a really bad thunderstorm, but in reality, what actually happened was a start of an apocalypse monsoon, or in the Filipino language, "HABAGAT".
Yes, even monsoons know what peer pressure is.
This monsoon caused plenty of outcomes: a widespread of diseases, an increase in poverty, homelessness, deaths, mixed emotions, new internet sensations, and public swimming pools. In my opinion, this monsoon wouldn't be a flood in the first place if the people didn't clog canals and every hole in the Philippines with their trash. Adding also the fact that the Philippines is growing bald in relation to the trees. Those poor, poor, harmless, helpful, trees.
I was serious about the "new internet sensations".
Classes and work were suspended because of the severity of the flood. This is a once in a lifetime moment when you can actually ride a boat or row a giant plastic vat to your local groceries and not get arrested or taken to your local mental institution.
When classes are suspended, 90% of students rejoice. Even I would celebrate. But that time will come when all the flood water has finally dried up, and all we have is a very dirty classroom with weird specimens hanging on every ceiling. And everyone will have to cram to make up for that lost time because Mr. Monsoon wasn't very kind to us this time. Oh, and maybe you'd find your teachers' class records all drenched and pulped up somewhere. Back to square one, people? :(
Because boats are too mainstream.
Fortunately, plenty of donations came rushing in to help the victims of the flood. These include water, candles, canned goods, can openers, rice, clothes and other personal necessities that people would need in a time of crisis. Everyone pitched in to offer something for a good cause. HOORAY! :D
You see, it's not easy being a flood victim. For starters, would you enjoy staying in a rundown evacuation center with tons of people you don't even know? Can you tolerate their attitudes? What about the crying babies? No one enjoys the sound of crying babies, trust me. Imagine a crying baby. Now, multiply that by a hundred or maybe a thousand. Paradise? I don't think so.
Yes, that finger is pointing at you.
You see, it's not easy being a flood victim. For starters, would you enjoy staying in a rundown evacuation center with tons of people you don't even know? Can you tolerate their attitudes? What about the crying babies? No one enjoys the sound of crying babies, trust me. Imagine a crying baby. Now, multiply that by a hundred or maybe a thousand. Paradise? I don't think so.
Even he can't tolerate his own crying.
Next scenario: You are now in an abandoned gymnasium with plenty of people. But you are not there to watch the olympics, because this gymnasium is converted into another evacuation center! Hello people, this is the Philippines, not America. Anyway, you start to lie down on the cold floor because you have nothing else to do. You are hungry. KFC? Mcdonalds? What about Mang Inasal? Mang Inasal sounds good. Steaming hot rice. Juicy roasted chicken. That tall glass of ice-cold coke. All the yummy calories. I have an idea! Let's go to Mang In---- ohhhhhhhhh wait, you can't. Why? Because Mang Inasal can only serve flood water soup now. What a sad, sad life.
He's taunting you. Don't let the rice ball fool you.
Floods are considered as natural disasters. But for me, these are man-made. It wouldn't be a flood in the first place if all those trees had a chance to live and start drinking the water. Those trees are now furniture. Furniture do not drink water. I am not an activist or anything, just giving something to think about. Something to distract you from staring at that rice ball in the picture above. Do not look at him directly in the eye.
Maybe furniture DO drink water.
Wrapping up my super-long blog about the Manila Flood Incident, I would like to give a moral lesson to this story. Canals are friends, not foes. So stop throwing your trashes, candy wrappers, condoms, corpses, counterfeit money, and other disposable potential cloggers, down the drain. It's not nice. Really. No one is happy to see random floating specimens down a river. So do us all a favor and keep those things to yourselves or at least properly dispose of them. :l