PHILIPPINES: Floods in central Philippines claim at least 15 lives and damage roads and buildings

Record ID: 644094

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Floods in central Philippines claim at least 15 lives and damage roads and buildings
  • Date: 3rd October 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) NORELYN LORETA, ANTIPOLO RESIDENT, SAYING: "I'm nervous. Life is too difficult because the walls of our house collapsed. We're begging for whatever little assistance."
  • Embargoed: 18th October 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA7DZVG90TFTNB22NXEJJG14RDC
  • Story Text: At least 15 people drowned and 30 were missing on Monday (October 2) when a mini-bus was swept away while trying to cross a river in central Philippines during flash floods.
    Police said passengers in the jeepney, a uniquely Philippine bus fashioned after the U.S. military jeep, were returning from a funeral in Igbaras town in Iloilo province.
    Igbaras Mayor James Esmeralda said nine survived the accident. Meanwhile, roads and buildings in the area sustained heavy damage after the floods engulfed towns and stranded residents.
    Locals struggled to walk through streets in knee-deep water, while others evacuated to higher ground.
    "I'm nervous. Life is too difficult because the walls of our house collapsed. We're begging for whatever little assistance," said Norelyn Loreta, an Antipolo resident whose home was severely damaged.
    The floods come after 76 people were killed and 1.3 billion pesos ($26 million) worth of infrastructure, crops and livestock were damaged by a typhoon in northern and central Philippines last week.
    Meteorologists said a new storm, which could develop into a typhoon, could hit the Philippines on Tuesday (October 3) or early Wednesday (October 4).
    Tropical storms regularly hit the archipelago. In the worst storm disaster in recent years, more than 5,000 people died in central Leyte island in 1991 in floods triggered by a typhoon.
    In 2004, about 1,800 people were killed or went missing in a series of storms.
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