floods02

People climb onto
rooftops as
floodwaters turn
this neighborhood
in Marikina into a
lake. A man
(above) carries a
child to safety. .

Flood death toll climbs as rescue continues

'It was a sea of muddy waters as far as the eye could see'

MANILA

The death toll in Saturday's killer floods that swept Metro Manila topped 100 as
rescue workers retrieved bodies from floodwaters and plucked people from
rooftops where they had been stranded overnight.

Officials put the death toll at 106 and said scores were missing as residents
began counting the cost of the worst flooding in the city's history.

Wire agencies and the local media gave varying numbers and emergency
relief officials expect the death toll to rise as more information becomes
available.

Health officials
warned residents
to take precautions
against
waterborne
diseases and to
watch out for
contamination of
water supply

Video footage taken from an
army helicopter showed a wide
swathe of Metro Manila and at
least 23 towns in muddy waters
as far as the eye could see.

Rescue operations were
continuing as the floodwaters
began to subside in a light
drizzle.

A brief burst of sunshine helped
to lift the gloom over a city that
had seen not such devastation
1967 when a similar catastrophe
left hundreds dead.

'You could almost imagine what
it's going to be like once the
waters subside. It's going to be a
inches upon inches of mud and
debris." a rescue worker said.

Health officials warned residents
to take precautions against
waterborne diseases and to
watch out for contamination of
water supply.

More than 330,000 people were
affected by storm, including
some 59,000 people who were

brought to about 100 schools, churches and other evacuation shelters, AP
quoted an officials saying

More than 330,000 people were affected by storm, including some 59,000
people who were brought to about 100 schools, churches and other
evacuation shelters, AP quoted an officials saying

The "state of calamity" declaration allowed officials to utilize emergency funds
for relief and rescue.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said tha, army troops, police and civilian
volunteers have rescued more than 5,100 people.

Many residents lost all their belongings in the storm, but were thankful they
were alive.

"We're back to zero," said Marikina resident Ronald Manlangit. Still he
expressed relief that he managed to move all his children to the second floor
of his house Saturday as floodwaters engulfed the ground floor.

Mud covered everything — cars, the road and vegetables in a public market
near Manlangit's house.

Governor Joselito Mendoza of Bulacan province, north of the capital, saidt
"people drowned in their own houses" as the storm raged.