By Ariel Avendaño
LICAB, Nueva Ecija - The municipal government said on Sunday that floodwaters continue to inundate ten out of eleven villages of this agricultural town with at least 4,000 families “confined” in their respective houses to avoid getting trouble with flood outside their homes.
(ARIEL AVENDANO/ MANILA BULLETIN)
The villages of Poblacion Sur, Tabing-Ilog, Villarosa, San Cristobal, Aquino, Sta. Maria, Linao, Poblacion Norte, San Juan and San Jose are still in knee-deep flood waters prompting the declaration placing the entire town under the state of calamity following the special session called by Mayor Eufemia Domingo which was immediately approved by the Sangguniang Bayan as at around 9:30 Saturday night.
Mayor Domingo said that waistline-deep floodwaters have been reported in the low-lying barangays of Villarosa, Poblacion and Aquino with only the high ground Barangay of San Casimiro as earlier reported, being spared.
In Barangay Sta. Maria, the town’s biggest village, rescue volunteers from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) failed to penetrate Purok Carriedo where indigenous people from Mt. Pinatubo, Zambales and other Igorot cultural communities reside in the area, according to Domingo.
“Magpadadala po sana kami ng relief goods at pagkain sa mga residente doon pero hindi po kinaya ng motorized rubber boat kaya ‘yong mga rescue volunteers na po ang nagpunta sa lugar”, the mayor also said.
A group of mediamen from DZRH and TV 5, including this correspondent, experienced getting stocked up in the middle of waistline waters as rampaging flood struck the “kuliglig” ferrying them developed engine trouble as intermittent heavy downpour pounded the area. Helping hands from another “kuliglig” operator that passed by after almost 30 minutes got the group out of trouble, unharmed.
As of this writing, at least 37 families or the equivalent to 192 individuals are still being housed at the evacuation center adjacent to the town hall.
“We are providing them regular meals and the Municipal Welfare and Development (MSWDO) is constantly attending to their needs and monitoring the health conditions of the evacuees” Domingo also said, adding that “ganoon din po ‘yong ibang mga residente na hindi pa nakakalabas sa kani-kanilang mga bahay dahil sa tubig-baha, they were also being attended and provided with relief goods”.
The mayor, however expressed apprehension that floodwaters may not subside in a couple of days as rainfalls intermittently occur.