Typhoon Aere Leaves 9 Dead in Philippines, Floods the Capital
Typhoon Aere killed nine people as it pounded eastern provinces of the Philippines and brought flooding to the capital, leaving thousands stranded in ports.
The storm, with maximum winds of 85 kilometers per hour (53 miles an hour), made landfall in Catanduanes yesterday and was forecast to move to the northern portion of Luzon island in the next two days, according to the 5 p.m. bulletin of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomical Services Administration yesterday.
Nine people died and one is missing, the National Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Council said on its 6 p.m. bulletin yesterday. The list has three people killed in a landslide in Camarines Sur, said Bicol regional police spokesman Ayn Natuel in a mobile phone message.
The Philippines is regularly battered by tropical cyclones that form over the Pacific Ocean to the east of the country. President Benigno Aquino last month said the government will spend 1 billion pesos ($23 million) for a three-dimensional map of the country to improve its disaster response.
In September 2009, Tropical Storm Ketsana flooded Manila and parts of Luzon, killing more than 400 people and affecting almost 5 million, exposing the government to criticisms. Less than a month since his term started in June 30, Aquino ordered a review of the nation’s weather forecasting system.
Throwing Garbage
Parts of the capital, an hour-away by plane from Catanduanes, suffered flooding as deep as 18 inches for as long as two hours, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino said by phone yesterday.
Water ways in the capital are clogged because of “people throwing garbage anywhere,” Tolentino said. The state agency lacks funds to clean drainage after a 62 percent cut in its budget, prompting Metropolitan Manila Development to instead boost its anti-littering campaign, the chairman said.
Aquino, who attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia moved his return flight to Manila to noontime today instead of midnight due to bad weather, spokeswoman Abigal Valte said.
Pacquiao Fight
More than 5,000 families were evacuated in affected areas and more than 4,000 people were stranded, the National Disaster agency said.
Fishermen in Catanduanes were advised yesterday to avoid going out to sea, provincial police Senior Superintendent Lito Pitallano said by phone yesterday.
In Albay, a province in eastern Luzon, about 300 families living near riverbanks were “preemptively evacuated,” Senior Superintendent William Macavinta said yesterday.
Power supplies had been intermittent in Bicol and people were anxious because everybody wanted to watch or at least monitor radio broadcasts of the world welterweight championship fight between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley, Macavinta said.
Lightning struck an Airbus SAS 320 plane of Philippine Airlines Inc., injuring six ground staff, ABS-CBN Corp. reported on its website yesterday.
Editors: Paul Tighe, Mike Anderson.
To contact the reporter on this story: Clarissa Batino at cbatino@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page