HEAVY monsoon rain over 15 straight days brought floods that killed four people, rendered roads impassable and submerged 90 percent of farmlands in Bani, Pangasinan, disaster officials said Sunday.
At least four people died as a result of the rains, including a six-month-old boy who was buried by a landslide.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of Pangasinan said Bani and Bolinao town were the hardest hit, with more than 4,000 hectares of agricultural land damaged.
Civil defense officials moved more than 3,000 people to safety as heavy rains inundated more than 5,000 homes.
The municipal government, fearing a storm surge, restricted fishing in the area.
Reports said 100 percent of Bani’s fishery business was lost.
All 27 of Bani’s barangays were affected by the floods, with eight of them considered the worst-hit.
Bani Mayor Gwen Yamamoto declared the town to be in a state of calamity.
Ten other towns–Sta. Barbara, Calasiao, Alaminos, Mangatarem, San Jacinto, San Fabian, Bugallon, Agno, Malasiqui and Asingan–and Dagupan City were also hit by flooding.
The monsoon rains have also flooded several provinces in Region 1, the Cordillera Autonomous Region and Central Luzon.
The monsoon rains also flooded several provinces in Region 1, the Cordillera Autonomous Region and Central Luzon.
Social welfare and relief agencies are delivering aid to affected areas while the Public Works Department is preparing to repair damaged infrastructure, said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.
Although no storm is forecast to hit, the government weather bureau warned that monsoon rains which may trigger flash floods and landslides will be experienced over large areas of the northern part of the country Sunday.
Except for Northern and Central Luzon, most parts of the country will experience fair weather in the next three days, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said.
Weather forecaster Gener Quitlong said that the southwest monsoon continues to affect Luzon, but the country will remain storm-free until Wednesday.
Quitlong said the monsoon would bring rains over the Ilocos and Cordillera regions and the provinces of Zambales and Bataan which may trigger flash floods and landslides.
He added that occasional rains are expected over Cagayan Valley and the rest of Central Luzon while partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms will prevail over Metro Manila and the rest of the country.
In its advisory, PAGASA said moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail over Luzon and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough.
Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the south to southwest with slight to moderate seas.
The state-run weather bureau also issued a gale warning due to the effects of the southwest monsoon as the sea condition will be rough to very rough due to strong to gale force winds expected to affect the seaboard of Northern Luzon and western seaboards of Central Luzon.
”Fishing boats and other small seacrafts are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves,” it warned.
The country is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms each year, many of them deadly.
Earlier this month, tropical storm Egay inundated whole towns in the north. With AFP, PNA