‘Not prepared’: Filipinos recall deadly 2009 typhoon as floods paralyse Manila

Affected residents interviewed by The Straits Times on July 24 said the non-stop downpour and widespread flooding brought back grim memories of the deadly, powerful Typhoon Ketsana (local name Ondoy) that killed more than 400 people in 2009. At that time, Metro Manila – compromising 16 cities and one town – and 23 provinces were placed under a state of calamity.

The Philippine authorities had issued rainfall warnings over the weekend as Typhoon Gaemi gathered strength, but student Simon De Leon, 17, said his family did not expect it to get so bad.

Flood waters were already leg-deep inside his home in Manila as he spoke to ST through his account on X, formerly Twitter.

“I think the government was not prepared, and it looks like they didn’t anticipate that the typhoon would cause this much damage,” said Simon, adding that electricity had been down in his area for hours.

“A lot of typhoons have happened since Ondoy, but it did not flood like this in my village. Carina seems to be much worse than Ondoy,” he added.

Images posted on social media and local media reports showed flood waters blanketing main roads, city streets and small alleys across Metro Manila and in the surrounding suburbs due to the typhoon and the intensified southwest monsoon.

A state of calamity was already in place in Metro Manila, home to some 13 million people, from July 24.

The declaration of a state of calamity will allow the government to tap its quick-response funds for rescue and recovery efforts in the typhoon’s aftermath.

At least four people – a pregnant woman and three children – were killed in a landslide on July 23 in the mountainside town of Agoncillo, in Batangas province, two hours south of Manila. A woman and her five-year-old child were killed, also in a landslide, in Pampanga province, north of the capital.

This took the death toll from heavy rain in recent days to at least 14.

Nine international flights and 71 domestic flights were cancelled at Manila’s main airport as of midday on July 24. Long lines were seen at ticketing booths as stranded passengers tried to rebook their flights.

The water level of the Marikina River in the eastern part of Metro Manila reached 19m by midday on July 24, Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro told ST. He likened the situation in his submerged city to the day Ondoy ravaged it 15 years ago.

More than 13,000 of the city’s 500,000 residents are now in evacuation centres, but Teodoro believes Typhoon Gaemi’s impact would have been much worse if the city had not dredged the river in Ondoy’s aftermath.

Marikina’s local disaster response council has also received recognition from the national government in past years for its enhanced flood-warning systems and other disaster mitigation measures.

“We just did not expect this much rain to last this long,” said Teodoro.

He urged residents to help their neighbours where possible to augment the authorities’ ongoing efforts.

“Government response isn’t going to be enough, so we have to apply what we learnt from Ondoy. We must work together to survive this typhoon,” said Mr Teodoro.

In the province of Rizal just outside the capital, bank employee Queenie Marco, 59, and her son decided to stay put inside their three-storey home as flood waters slowly crept up in their garage.

No longer able to drive their car, her son removed its battery in a bid to save the vehicle should the flood waters rise further.

“I feel like this is much worse than Ondoy. Previously, it rained strongly, but only for a day. This time, it’s been raining for days. We didn’t expect this,” said Ms Marco.

Officials acknowledged being overwhelmed by the amount of rainfall that barrelled through Manila and its surrounding areas.

In a meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and officials that was streamed publicly on July 24, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos said rescue and recovery efforts were being hampered by the deluge.

“Seems like Metro Manila was hit. What made it worse, Mr President, is the amount of rainfall hitting us now,” he said.

He said, without giving further details, that the situation was exacerbated by a ship destroying a flood control infrastructure system off the coast of Manila.  

Despite these issues, Marcos told reporters after the meeting that he was satisfied with the overall government response.

He said the Philippines is ready to distribute 2.88 billion pesos (S$66 million) in aid to typhoon victims in the coming days.  

“I gave them few instructions because their disaster response efforts have been good so far. I just told them to focus on the areas that rescuers still have not reached yet,” Marcos said.

Mara Cepeda

The Straits Times

Asia News Network

Photo by Reuters