World Updates: Metro Manila and 26 place areas in Luzon, under state of calamity

Metro Manila and 26 place areas in Luzon, under state of calamity. In Manila Philippines, the Arroyo government on Saturday placed 26 areas in Luzon, including Metro Manila, under a state of calamity due to floods caused by tropical storm Ondoy.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said the provinces placed under a state of calamity were Aurora, Quirino, Nueva Viscaya, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Quezon, Isabela, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Benguet, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental, Marinduque, Camarines Norte, Bataan and Metro Manila.

At least nine people were reported dead or missing in massive floods as a tropical storm lashed the eastern side of the country on Saturday, radio reports said.

A wall, weakened by floodwaters, collapsed in a suburb of Manila, killing a father and child while four children drowned in a flood with three others were swept away by a swollen river outside the capital, radio station DZMM said.

The storm, bearing winds of 85 kilometres (53 miles) per hour with gusts of 100 kph, hit the main island of Luzon near the town of Infanta at about 0200 GMT Sunday, moving west at 19 kph, the weather station said.

Flooding was reported in many districts and on roads reported with waters in some areas reaching as high as the rooftops of one-storey buildings, the civil defence office said.

As many as 700 people were forced to flee their homes and take refuge in evacuation centres due to rising waters, the office said. However, local officials interviewed on radio said they were moving to evacuate more of their residents.

Huge traffic jams clogged the roads in the capital as floodwaters caused many vehicles to stall.

Local officials made appeals on air, asking rescue agencies to send rubber boats to rescue stranded people.

The second level of a three-step storm alert was raised over the eastern provinces of Luzon while the first level alert was hoisted over Metropolitan Manila and surrounding areas, the government said.

The storm is expected to move west, across the main island of Luzon, before exiting the country early Sunday.

An average of 20 typhoons and storms enter the Philippines from the Pacific Ocean over the eastern seaboard every year.

Teodoro said the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), with the help of police, military and local provincial units, is using all its rescue resources to assist affected people in the affected areas of the storm.

The defense chief also advised residents of Metro Manila to keep out of the streets for more efficient rescue operations.

"We ask our countrymen not to clog the streets and thoroughfares at this time... It does pose a clear and present danger to efficient rescue operations," he said, adding that stranded residents should instead take the Light Rail Transit and Metro Rail Transit to get home.

Teodoro also asked people still stuck on their rooftops for patience and assured them that help will arrive at the soonest possible time.

"I understand the urgency of the situation and we are trying our level-best to respond as quickly as we can," he said.

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