1 DEAD AS FLOODS HIT CENTRAL, NORTH LUZON
BAGUIO CITY—Heavy rains and strong winds spawned by the southwest monsoon has claimed the life of a female call center agent and flooded a number of areas in Central and Northern Luzon.
Esmerelda Suriaga, 39, was injured after the taxi ferrying her was hit by a fallen tree at 3:15 p.m. on Friday along Kennon Road. She was declared dead at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center and may have become Cordillera region’s first fatality in the weeklong torrential monsoon rains that was worsened by Typhoon “Fabian” (international name: In-fa).
According to Baguio police, the taxi boarded by Suriaga was headed downtown when the tree loosened by days of rain fell on it.
Suriaga’s fellow passengers and family members Samuel, 29, and Wilfredo Suriaga, 63, were discharged after receiving treatment . Their taxi driver, Mizon Galano, 33, was unharmed.
The victims resided in Barangay Camp 7 at Kennon Road, which is closed to commuters except for residents in the area.
On Friday. heavy rains also triggerd flooding in major roads in the neighboring town of La Trinidad, Benguet province.
In Zambales, the stormy weather toppled five electric poles in Subic town, three of them struck by fallen trees along the national road in Barangay Calapandayan, according to the Zambales II Electric Cooperative Inc. (Zameco II).
Seven villages in the province suffered power outages, Zameco II said.
Heavy rainfall warning
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, in its 5 a.m. bulletin on Saturday, said Fabian had exited the country but warned that heavy rainfall would continue to prevail until Sunday over Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Metro Manila, most of Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), and portions of Western Visayas.
In Pampanga, floodwaters attributed to the monsoon and high tide inundated 66 villages in the towns of Masantol, Macabebe, Lubao, Apalit, Guagua, Bacolor and Minalin towns on Saturday, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office reported.
Floods were also reported in the towns of Calumpit, Hagonoy, Marilao and Paumbong in Bulacan.
“Residents were not expecting floods to rise this quickly and waters have entered their homes. Between 18 and 19 out of 26 villages in Hagonoy are dealing with floods that have yet to recede,” said Bong Cruz, a resident of Hagonoy’s Barangay San Agustin.
Two-foot-high (0.6-meter-high) floods rendered eight Hagonoy roads impassable to light vehicles while 4-foot-high (1.2-m-high) floods inundated the Lias, Saluysoy and Ibayo boundary roads in Marilao.