Philippines, September 27: AT LEAST 50 people were reported dead as tropical storm Ketsana lashed the Philippines, bringing massive flooding, according to reports.
At least 40 were killed in Rizal province, east of Manila, as entire towns were inundated, according to Rizal Governor Casimiro Ynares on GMA television.
Radio stations had earlier reported 10 dead in Manila and its surrounding areas. This included a father and child killed by a collapsing wall weakened by the flood as well as others swept away by rising waters.
Governor Ynares said there were many more missing in flooded towns in his province but he did not give details.
The government declared Manila and 25 other provinces to be in a “state of calamity,” Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said, as heavy rains brought by the storm caused the worst flooding in the capital in some 20 years.
Amid a rash of cellphone calls for help by people stranded on the roofs of their houses, President Gloria Arroyo appealed to the public to stay calm and follow the instructions of local officials and civil defence workers.
Over 1800 people were forced to flee their homes and take refuge in evacuation centres due to rising waters, the civil defence office said.
Flooding was reported in many districts with waters in some areas reaching as high as the rooftops of one-storey buildings, it added.
Power was cut in many areas of Manila, partly due to flooding but also as a protective measure to prevent fallen lines electrocuting people trying to escape the waters.
Defence Secretary Teodoro, who is also in charge of civil defence operations, said all the efforts of the police and the military were being concentrated on rescuing people trapped on rooftops.
But he said the flooding in the streets and the large numbers of stalled vehicles were giving rescue units “a hard time” in reaching those affected.
The storm, bearing winds of 85 kph with gusts of 100 kph, hit the main island of Luzon near the town of Infanta on Saturday, moving west at 19 kph, the weather station said.
Government weather forecaster Gener Quitlong said the equivalent of one month’s worth of rain fell on Manila in less than a day.
The storm is expected to move west, across the main island of Luzon, before leaving the country early Sunday. The government weather station said it is weakening and that rains are likely to ease.
An average of 20 typhoons and storms hit the Philippines every year.
—Agencies