MANILA: Philippine coast guard and disaster agencies scrambled on Saturday to rescue thousands in a northern province flooded by Typhoon Vamco (local code name: Typhoon Ulysses), the country’s deadliest cyclone this year.
Dozens of towns in Cagayan region north of the capital Manila remain submerged, affecting thousands of families, some of whom fled to rooftops to escape two-story high floods, officials said.
The coast guard sent teams of rescue personnel, vehicles and rubber boats to Tuguegarao early on Saturday, and will bring in more help from nearby provinces, said coast guard commandant George Ursabia.
Accumulated effects of previous weather disturbances, as well as water from a dam and higher plains brought high flooding to Cagayan province, the disaster agency said. The nearby Magat Dam released water on Friday equivalent to two Olympic-size pools per second, government data showed.
Cagayan Valley is a region of 1.2 million people comprising five agricultural provinces. Nearly 14,000 people are staying in evacuation centers after the floods affected 343,000, the disaster agency said.
“We believe it would take more than a week before the floods subside” if there is no further rain, Tuguegarao City Mayor Jefferson Soriano told DZMM radio station. Access to the city, home to 163,000 people, was cut due to flooded roads, he said.
Residents took to social media, posting photos and addresses with pleas for rescue. The hashtag #CagayanNeedsHelp was the top trending topic on Twitter with 2.03 million tweets.
“We’re already on the third day atop our roof. We need relief goods and clothing because we saved nothing,” Ramilo Lagundi, a resident in Tuguegarao City, told DZBB radio station. Lagundi said he was staying with hundreds of other neighbors on rooftops.
Vamco, the 21st cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, has killed at least 42 people. It tore through the main island of Luzon late on Wednesday.
Philippines scrambles to rescue thousands after Typhoon Vamco
https://arab.news/6522w
Philippines scrambles to rescue thousands after Typhoon Vamco
- Vamco, the 21st cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, has killed at least 42 people
- Magat Dam released water on Friday equivalent to two Olympic-size pools per second, government data showed
Campaigning starts in CAR election
- Both of Touadera’s top critics on the ballot paper, ex-Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra and the main opposition leader Anicet-Georges Dologuele, had feared they would be barred from the election over nationality requirements
BANGUI: Campaigning has kicked off in the Central African Republic, with the unstable former French colony’s voters set to cast their ballots in a quadruple whammy of elections on Dec. 28.
Besides national, regional and municipal lawmakers, Centrafri-cains are set to pick their president, with incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadera in pole position out of a seven-strong field after modifying the constitution to allow him to seek a third term.
Thousands of supporters packed into a 20,000-seater stadium in the capital Bangui on Saturday to listen to Touadera, accused by the opposition of wishing to cling on as president-for-life in one of the world’s poorest countries.
In his speech, Touadera, who was first elected in 2016 in the middle of a bloody civil war, styled himself as a defender of the country’s young people and insisted there was work to do to curb ongoing unrest.
“The fight for peace and security is not over,” the president warned the packed stands.
“We must continue to strengthen our army in order to guarantee security throughout the national territory and preserve the unity of our country.”
Both of Touadera’s top critics on the ballot paper, ex-Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra and the main opposition leader Anicet-Georges Dologuele, had feared they would be barred from the election over nationality requirements.
Touring the capital’s districts alongside a traveling convoy, Dologuele warned that the upcoming vote represents “a choice for national survival; a choice between resignation and hope.”
“Our people have experienced 10 years of this regime. Ten years of waiting, promises and suffering,” he added.
