A storm that brought torrential monsoon rains which flooded much of the Philippine capital gained strength and battered the country’s northernmost provinces yesterday with heavy downpours and strong winds.
The national disaster agency reported that more than half a million people were affected by Tropical Storm Fung-Wong in metropolitan Manila and nearby provinces, forcing about 90,000 people to evacuate. At least five have been killed.
The agency had no immediate reports of the conditions in the northern Philippine region.
Photo: EPA
Governor Imee Marcos of Ilocos Norte on the northwest section of the main island of Luzon said fierce winds and heavy rains battered her province for more than 12 hours, blowing away roofs, toppling trees and flooding highways.
“I am basically holed up in my bedroom with a generator and several computers and telephones because I can’t even cross the street,” she told reporters yesterday by telephone from the provincial capital of Laoag.
She said floodwaters and fallen trees have cut off some highways to her province. Rescuers were headed to those trapped by the flooding and relief supplies were being distributed, she said.
“Every time there is a little rain we have trouble, and now this is more than a little rain so it has really been difficult,” Marcos said, adding that the last time the province experienced something similar was 10 years ago.
At least 37,000 people in the capital alone were displaced on Friday in one of the worst floods in the sprawling metropolis of 12 million in recent years.
The rain and an unrelated radar malfunction combined to divert, delay or cancel dozens of domestic and international flights at Manila’s airport. Government offices in the capital and 15 provinces were closed on Friday and the Philippine Stock Exchange suspended trading.
Government forecasters said nearly a month’s worth of rain fell overnight.
Meteorologist Aldczar Aurelio said the storm, which made landfall in northern Cagayan province east of Ilocos Norte with top winds of 100kph, enhanced the seasonal southwest monsoon winds and clouds from the Indian Ocean and Australia and dumped heavy rain over the capital area.
He said 26.8cm of rain fell on the capital in a 24-hour period ending early on Friday. That was more than half the amount that caused massive flooding in Metro Manila in 2009, the worst in 40 years.
Forecasters said the storm was over the Luzon Strait yesterday, with sustained winds of 105kph and gusts of up to 135kph.
It was expected to head toward Taiwan and southern Japan today.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not