The death toll from Typhoon “Ulysses” has risen to 27, official figures showed Friday, after some of the worst flooding in years swamped villages and forced thousands to flee their homes.
Torrential rain dumped by Ulysses – the third powerful storm to hit the country in as many weeks – inundated low-lying areas of Metro Manila and surrounding provinces, trapping people on rooftops and balconies.
The typhoon claimed at least 27 lives, Civil Defense figures showed, but the final toll will likely be higher as disaster agencies verify some fatalities.
The Philippine National Police has recorded 42 deaths. The military put the number of fatalities at 39 with 22 missing.
The PNP said 10 people died following landslides near a mining site in Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya.
Police Col. Ranser Evasco, provincial director of Nueva Vizcaya Police, told radio dzBB they immediately recovered five bodies in three sitios in Barangay Runruno on the same day, but five others were missing.
Local police in Banaue, Ifugao, reported five dead and six missing in a landslide caused by the typhoon.
Police said the landslide pushed a two-story house in Banaue into a ravine.
Ulysses left the Philippine area of responsibility Friday and headed toward Vietnam.
It briefly weakened into a severe tropical storm before dawn Friday but re-intensified into a typhoon at 8 a.m. before its exit.
As floodwaters receded and residents began to return home, the scale of the destruction left by Ulysses became clearer.
In Marikina City, one of the hardest-hit areas of the capital, mud-covered washing machines, televisions, couches, office chairs and bicycles were piled up on streets as residents swept debris and murky water from their houses.
Hundreds of thousands were still without power after Ulysses lashed the most populous island of Luzon on Wednesday and Thursday, triggering landslides, toppling trees and cutting off roads.
Authorities vowed to distribute food and other essentials to victims, many of whom were still recovering from typhoons Quinta and Rolly that killed dozens of people, destroyed tens of thousands of houses, and knocked out power to swathes of the country in recent weeks.
Defending the response to the latest disaster, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the government “acted fast.”
“Unfortunately we couldn’t do anything about the floodwater which rose too fast… but we made sure no one will be left behind,” he said.
Officials said many people had ignored orders to evacuate their homes and were caught by surprise by the fast-rising waters.
Police, soldiers and coast guard were deployed to assist in rescue efforts, using boats to reach thousands of people stranded. The operations were made more complicated by the coronavirus outbreak.
The severity of the flooding in Metro Manila and neighboring province of Rizal sparked comparisons with the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Ondoy in 2009 that killed hundreds.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Danilo Lim, meanwhile, ordered the deployment of additional teams to help in the rehabilitation of the affected areas in Marikina City in the wake of the devastation brought about by Ulysses.
Men from the agency’s Metro Parkways Clearing Group, Road Emergency Group, and Public Safety Division will assist the local government of Marikina City in its on-going clearing and rehabilitation efforts.
“We have dispatched our men to severely-damaged areas in Marikina City to remove debris, clear obstructions, and collect household waste in coordination with the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office,” Lim said.
Aside from manpower, dump trucks, self-loaders, back hoes, and other heavy equipment needed in removing road obstructions were deployed in the hardest-hit city in the National Capital Region.
“Our men are equipped with clearing tools to haul garbage and thick mud from the affected areas,” Lim said.
Lim, concurrent chairman of the Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MMDRRMC), also directed concerned agency’s personnel to ensure that all major roads in Metro Manila are passable.
Agency personnel cleared roads blocked by fallen tree branches, stalled vehicles and debris, and realigned concrete and plastic barriers.
Based on the MMDA Metro Manila Crisis Monitoring and Management Center’s monitoring of the flood situations in Metro Manila, all major thoroughfares inundated on Thursday are now passable.
Lim earlier asked several Metro local government units to extend assistance to Marikina and other cities which have been severely devastated by the typhoon.
At the height of the typhoon Ulysses, MMDA personnel assisted in the rescue and evacuation of affected individuals, assisted in crowd control, and managed traffic flow in affected cities in the metropolis.
Ambulances, rubber boats, truck-mounted cranes, backhoes, water pumps, rescue equipment were dispatched.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said the Plaridel Airport in Bulacan sustained mild flooding in its apron while cracked door panels and water leakage was discovered in its tower building due to storm surges.
Sangley Airport in Cavite, on the other hand, experienced flooding along Runway 07, and its hangar and general aviation area.
Both airports suffered power outages.
Malacanang on Friday said President Duterte was constantly monitoring the situation during the onslaught of Ulysses, even while he was attending to his other obligations.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after the hashtag “#NasaanAngPangulo?” (Where is the President) went viral while Ulysses was ravaging parts of the country Thursday, adding that the social media criticism was a ploy hatched by the opposition.
“You should not ask where the President is. That’s nonsense caused by the opposition. The President is never absent, he is always with us. He is always thinking about our welfare,” Roque said.
“Only those who really don’t like the President say that because the President’s real message is ‘I sympathize with all the victims of this typhoon,” he added.
Senator Christopher Go, a constant companion of the President, said Duterte has ensured that all available government assets would be used to help typhoon victims.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Friday commended the efforts of local government units (LGUs), including Marikina City, for their disaster response preparations despite the devastation brought by Typhoon Ulysses.
“The preparations and response of Mayor Marcy Teodoro are okay and also other LGUs. Mayor Marcy did his best but it’s the wrath of nature and you can only do so much. The water’s rise was too fast, faster than Ondoy but the evacuation was being done even before the water reached the… alarming level. And then it happened from night to dawn so there were additional obstacles,” Año said in a message sent to reporters.
Año insisted that the agency had made preparations before the onslaught of Ulysses’ despite the reported casualties.
“We have no casualty in Marikina unlike Ondoy with almost 500 dead in all affected areas,” he said, adding that so far 14 deaths have been attributed to Ulysses.
Based on the latest Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) data, Año said 38,554 people were rescued from the typhoon, which inundated low-lying areas like Marikina.
He said in a news briefing that the DILG placed a total of 39 provinces across regions on alert before the typhoon wreaked havoc.
Año also said the government was better prepared to deal with Ulysses’ than it was during Super Typhoon Rolly.