CARINA (international name: Gaemi), which intensified into a super typhoon, and a southwest monsoon continued to bring heavy rains to the Philippine Capital Region and northern provinces on Wednesday, halting financial markets and prompting authorities to suspend work and to suspend classes.
The Presidential Palace suspended government work and classes at all levels in Central Luzon, Calabarzon and Metro Manila on July 25 due to heavy rains.
Metro Manila, which consists of 16 cities and one municipality and is home to at least 13 million people, was placed in a state of disaster.
Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Benjamin C. Abalos, Jr. announced the decision after an emergency meeting with mayors.
The local disaster agency said nearly a million people from 180,000 families were affected by the typhoon. More than 35,000 people from 8,320 families stayed in evacuation centers.
Earlier in the day, the presidential palace suspended classes at all academic levels and work in most government offices due to the typhoon. Local governments on the main island of Luzon followed suit.
Carina had maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour near the center and gusts of up to 230 kilometers per hour, the state weather bureau said in a 5 p.m. bulletin.
It flew northwest toward Taiwan and was expected to leave the Philippine area of responsibility Thursday morning.
It said water levels in the La Mesa Dam had reached 250 feet at 4 p.m. and were expected to rise due to heavy rainfall. Excess water would overflow once the dam reaches a height of 80.15 meters, affecting areas near the Tullahan River from Quezon City, Valenzuela and Malabon.
Carina did not make landfall in the Philippines but strengthened the southwest monsoon, resulting in heavy to intense rainfall in the north of the country, the agency said.
Carina and Tropical Depression Butchoy (Prapiroon) hit the southern Philippines and caused flooding last week, killing at least seven people.
The Philippine Coast Guard said 354 passengers and 31 ships were stranded at ports, while airlines canceled 13 flights on Wednesday, the Manila Airport Authority said.
The Philippines lies along the typhoon belt in the Pacific Ocean and experiences about twenty storms every year. It is also located in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a belt of volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
Carina was expected to further intensify and peak before landfall in Taiwan, the state weather bureau said.
The combined effects of the typhoon and monsoon caused flooding in parts of Luzon. The Marikina River, which spans sixteen bridges, overflowed and reached a height of 18.3 meters, forcing residents to flee.
Representatives from Malabon, Marikina, Valenzuela, Las Piñas and Parañaque were absent from the emergency meeting of the Metro Manila Council where the declaration of a state of disaster was adopted.
Quezon Mayor Maria Josefina Tanya G. Belmonte-Alimurung told a news briefing that all of the city’s evacuation centers were occupied, forcing them to use churches, indoor courts and schools to house victims. Eighty of the 142 villages were flooded.
More than 41,000 residents remained in evacuation centers, the local government of Quezon City said in an X-post.
Kyanna Angela Bulan was in her condominium on Taft Avenue in Manila when the first floor of her parents’ two-story home in Marikina City was flooded.
“The flooding reached parts of the stairs to the second floor,” she said in a Facebook Messenger chat. “Almost all of our furniture – sofa, bed, dining table, cupboards, storage racks, TV – was floating.”
In Rizal province, a video showed residents helping a man swept away by a flood in a town on the slopes of the Sierra Madre Mountains. Another video showed passengers leaving a bus in Quezon City, the country’s largest city, while it was flooded.
About US$500 million ($29 billion) in standby funds was available to support disaster relief, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The president must first bring the country to a state of disaster before the fund is released, it added.
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said about 430,000 customers mainly in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal were affected by brownouts due to Super Typhoon Carina.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and our crews are working non-stop to restore service as quickly as possible,” Joe R. Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications, said in a statement.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the government had provided P43.15 million in aid to more than 770,000 people affected by Butchoy in the Visayas and Mindanao.
In his third speech to Congress on Monday, the Philippine leader said his government had launched 5,500 flood control projects across the country. “There are many still under construction.”
According to the World Bank, the Philippines is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with annual economic damage of 13.6% of the economy. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Adrian H. Halili, Beatriz Marie D. Cruz And Heroes Joy Talavera