MANILA, Philippines (AP) - October 2, 2011
Typhoon Nalgae slammed ashore in northeastern Isabela province
Saturday, then barreled across the main island of Luzon's
mountainous north and agricultural plains, which were still sodden
from fierce rain and winds unleashed by a howler just days earlier.
Nalgae left at least three people dead Saturday. Typhoon Nesat
killed 56 others and left 28 missing in the same region before
blowing out Friday.
Nalgae was whirling over the South China Sea and heading toward
southern China late Sunday afternoon, 230 miles (370 kilometers)
from the Philippines' northeast coast, with sustained winds of 75
miles (120 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 93 mph (150 kph),
according to the Philippine government weather agency.
China's National Meteorological Center urged people in areas
expected to be lashed by rainstorms in the next three days,
including on southernmost Hainan island and in eastern Taiwan, to
stay indoors and cancel large assemblies, China's official Xinhua
News Agency reported Sunday.
Nalgae's ferocious winds set off a rock slide in the northern
mountain province of Bontoc in the Philippines on Saturday, causing
boulders to roll down a mountainside and smash a passing van, where
a passenger was pinned to death and another was injured, police
said.
In northern Tarlac province's Camiling town, a man sought safety
with his two young nephews as flooding rose in their village
Saturday. But one of the children was swept away by rampaging
waters and drowned, while his uncle and his brother remained
missing. A drunken man drowned in flooding in a nearby village,
provincial disaster officer Marvin Guiang said.
Nalgae roared through parts of Luzon that had been saturated by
Typhoon Nesat, which trapped thousands on rooftops and sent huge
waves that breached a seawall in Manila Bay. Nesat then pummeled
southern China and was downgraded to a tropical storm just before
churning into northern Vietnam on Friday, where 20,000 people were
evacuated.
Seven towns north of Manila were still flooded Sunday, including
Calumpit in rice-growing Bulacan province, where hundreds of
residents remained trapped on rooftops in four villages for the
fourth day, many desperately waving for help. Rescuers aboard
rubber boats could not reach them because of narrow alleys. Two air
force helicopters were ordered deployed to drop water and food
packs to the marooned villagers, officials said.
Calumpit Mayor James de Jesus said floodwaters were receding
later Sunday, sparking hope the crisis would end sooner. Local
leaders have been asked to help distribute relief supplies to
residents in areas in the four villages that could now be accessed,
he said.
"It's still critical. There are still houses which could not be
reached," de Jesus told DZBB radio.
Benito Ramos, who heads the Office of Civil Defense, said he was
concerned that freshly dumped rains by Nalgae may flow down from
the mountainous north to the central Luzon provinces of Bulacan and
Pampanga, which act like a catch basin, especially during high tide
in nearby Manila Bay. Some officials said water released from
nearby dams had exacerbated the floods.
Ramos criticized those villagers who refused to leave their
flooded homes despite orders to evacuate.
During a nationally televised meeting with disaster response
agencies, President Benigno Aquino III ordered authorities to study
how villagers and fishermen can be forced to follow storm warnings
to prevent casualties in the future.
In the last four months, prolonged monsoon flooding, typhoons
and storms across Southeast Asia, China, Japan and South Asia have
left more than 600 people dead or missing. In India alone, the
damage is estimated to be worth $1 billion.
Several studies point to an intensification of the Asian summer
monsoon rainfall with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide
concentrations, according to the state-run Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology. Still, it is not clear that the damaging
weather is entirely due to climate change, it said.
The damage on agriculture and infrastructure from the earlier
typhoon in the Philippines was estimated at $200 million. Rice and
vegetables could be obtained from the country's south in case of
supply shortfalls due to damaged farms and blocked roads in the
north, officials said.
Nalgae was the 17th weather disturbance this year to batter the
disaster-prone Philippines, which is lashed by about 20 storms and
typhoons annually. A low pressure area has been monitored 435 miles
(700 kilometers) off the archipelago and could either dissipate or
strengthen into another storm in the next few days, forecaster
Gener Quitlong said.
---
Associated Press writers Oliver Teves in Manila, Margie Mason in
Hanoi, Vietnam, and Scott McDonald in Beijing contributed to this
report.
Filipinos still trapped on roofs; typhoons kill 59
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