CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Despite good weather, floodwaters rose by three to five feet in many towns in this province starting about midnight Monday in the face of yet another visit of Pres. Arroyo to Sasmuan town, her 30th sortie to her second district this year.
In a text message to Punto at about 5 a.m., Masantol Vice Mayor Bajun Lacap noted that floodwaters, which have not subsided since storm Ondoy last Sept. 23, started to rise at the rate of one foot per hour beginning 12:30 a.m. Monday in several barangays in his town. By 2:30 a.m. the floods had risen by three to four feet in most parts of Masantol, he noted.
Central Luzon police director and Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) chairman Chief Supt. Leon Nilo de la Cruz noted the same situation in many low-lying towns in Pampanga including Candaba, Minalin, Macabebe, Sto. Tomas and other areas around the Pampanga Delta where waters released from the Pantabangan Dam were reported to have flowed.
But De la Cruz, who accompanied the President in her sorties to Masantol, Macabebe and Sasmuan, downplayed threats from the rising floods. “The waters flowing from higher areas are not turbulent and people in the affected areas have long been used to flooding in their towns. We are on the alert only for accidents, particularly cases of electrocution in such areas,” he noted. No additional casualties were reported yesterday.
Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo also noted that floods in his town, despite good weather, rose by about another three feet, but he confirmed De la Cruz’s observations that folk in his town have been used to floods. He said, however, that the recent floods were deeper than usual.
“It used to be that our deepest flood in populated areas reached 10 feet. Now it’s 13 feet,” he said, while stressing that rescue teams were able to ferry people in most affected areas to four buildings the town uses for its annual “Ibon-Ebon” festival in Barangay Pasig.
The President distributed relief goods to flooding victims in Barangays San Isidro Matua, Sta. Lucia Matua, and Sto. Nino in Masantol and Barangays San Gabriel and San Isidro in Macabebe, all in Pampanga’s fourth district, before proceeding to her second district in Sasmuan for groundbreaking ceremonies for the Sta. Monica bridge, the inauguration of the barangay road in Barangay San Pedro, inspection of a rehabilitated five-classroom building where she will award scholarships and lead a “PGMA Serbisyo Muna Caravan” in Barangay Sta. Monica.
Only last Oct. 7, the President was in her hometown in Lubao to distribute relief goods.
In a text message to Punto at about 5 a.m., Masantol Vice Mayor Bajun Lacap noted that floodwaters, which have not subsided since storm Ondoy last Sept. 23, started to rise at the rate of one foot per hour beginning 12:30 a.m. Monday in several barangays in his town. By 2:30 a.m. the floods had risen by three to four feet in most parts of Masantol, he noted.
Central Luzon police director and Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) chairman Chief Supt. Leon Nilo de la Cruz noted the same situation in many low-lying towns in Pampanga including Candaba, Minalin, Macabebe, Sto. Tomas and other areas around the Pampanga Delta where waters released from the Pantabangan Dam were reported to have flowed.
But De la Cruz, who accompanied the President in her sorties to Masantol, Macabebe and Sasmuan, downplayed threats from the rising floods. “The waters flowing from higher areas are not turbulent and people in the affected areas have long been used to flooding in their towns. We are on the alert only for accidents, particularly cases of electrocution in such areas,” he noted. No additional casualties were reported yesterday.
Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo also noted that floods in his town, despite good weather, rose by about another three feet, but he confirmed De la Cruz’s observations that folk in his town have been used to floods. He said, however, that the recent floods were deeper than usual.
“It used to be that our deepest flood in populated areas reached 10 feet. Now it’s 13 feet,” he said, while stressing that rescue teams were able to ferry people in most affected areas to four buildings the town uses for its annual “Ibon-Ebon” festival in Barangay Pasig.
The President distributed relief goods to flooding victims in Barangays San Isidro Matua, Sta. Lucia Matua, and Sto. Nino in Masantol and Barangays San Gabriel and San Isidro in Macabebe, all in Pampanga’s fourth district, before proceeding to her second district in Sasmuan for groundbreaking ceremonies for the Sta. Monica bridge, the inauguration of the barangay road in Barangay San Pedro, inspection of a rehabilitated five-classroom building where she will award scholarships and lead a “PGMA Serbisyo Muna Caravan” in Barangay Sta. Monica.
Only last Oct. 7, the President was in her hometown in Lubao to distribute relief goods.
