Scores of Filipinos living in Metro Manila and nearby areas are calling for help after floodwaters have risen due to the onslaught of Typhoon Vamco (local name, Ulysses).
Marikina City resident Erik Arganda told Coconuts Manila that he and his girlfriend had to seek refuge in their neighbor’s home. They are currently stuck on the second floor to avoid the rising waters. Marikina is a valley and is regularly inundated by floods during the typhoon season.
“The water is higher than a person. A lot of people here are waiting for [the government] to rescue them, but they haven’t yet arrived,” he said.
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Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro told radio station DZBB that the floodwaters are as high as when Typhoon Ketsana struck in 2009. Ketsana, locally named Ondoy, was one of the worst typhoons to hit Metro Manila in recent memory.
“We are overwhelmed by the extent, the magnitude of the flood that we are experiencing. [The Marikina River] is already 20.9 meters high. This means that this is similar to Ondoy,” he said in English and Filipino.
Meanwhile, in Montalban town in Rizal, about 30 people in Kasiglahan Village are stuck on the roof of their homes, waiting to be rescued.
“We are on the roof. The water keeps rising. There are many of us here with my wife, two children; we’re on the second floor…We can’t see the houses anymore,” a resident named Rico Ochondia told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo in English and Filipino.
“Our things, all of them are gone. Nothing is left. Please send us help,” he added.
