Hundreds of thousands displaced by Manila floods

The deluge that began late on Sunday was the worst since 2009, when hundreds died in rampaging flash floods.

More than 1.2 million people have been affected, including 783,000 who evacuated their inundated homes. Some have returned as the water was receding, but others stayed despite the hard conditions in emergency shelters.

At least 23 people have died, including nine in a landslide in a hillside slum in suburban Quezon City, and several others who drowned in outlying provinces.

One resident, Carmen Empesao, said she panicked and left with her three grandchildren when waist-deep floodwaters swamped her home in the hard-hit city of Marikina.

“We fled without any food and the clothes we managed to grab were wet and cannot be worn,” Empesao, 60, told The Associated Press from an evacuation center.

Rescue efforts began in earnest on Wednesday, with more than 130 emergency crewmen from two provinces reaching the capital city of 12 million people to help their overwhelmed teams, including police and soldiers.

Rescue efforts

Rescuers used rubber boats and ropes to navigate flooded streets where many people climbed on rooftops to escape neck-deep waters.

“Floods are receding in many areas but people are still trapped on their roofs,” said Benito Ramos, head of the government’s main disaster-response agency, describing the scene as “like a water world”, adding: “In some areas, I could not tell the sea from the flooded villages.”

President Benigno Aquino III distributed food packs in hard-hit communities. Traffic was light as workers tried to clear roads blocked by fallen trees and debris.

Forecasters said the monsoon rains that overflowed dams and rivers crisscrossing Manila and surrounding provinces would break for sunny weather later this week.

Manila was drenched with more than half of a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours. A typhoon that was near China and helped intensify the Philippine rains blew into the Chinese mainland early Wednesday, leading to the drier forecasts for the rest of the week.

But it is feared that up to three storms or typhoons could lash the Philippines this month. About 20 tropical storms are expected to affect the archipelago nation this year.

In 2009, massive flooding spawned by a typhoon devastated Manila and surrounding areas, killing hundreds.