Northern Philippines experienced non-stop rainfall on Wednesday, triggering flooding in Manila and landslides in mountainous regions as Typhoon Gaemi intensified the seasonal monsoon.
In the densely populated capital, rescuers were deployed across the city to evacuate residents from low-lying homes after downpours turned streets into rivers.
People clutched flimsy umbrellas as they waded through thigh-deep murky water or used small boats and shopping trolleys to move around.
Government offices were shut, classes suspended, and over 70 domestic and international flights cancelled due to the weather.
“Many areas are flooded, so we have rescuers deployed all over the city. There is an overwhelming number of people asking for help,” Peachy de Leon, a disaster official in suburban Manila, told AFP.
De Leon added, “We were told last night the rain will not hit us, then the rain suddenly poured, so we were quite shocked. There is an ongoing search and rescue now.”
Typhoon Gaemi, which is moving past the Philippines towards Taiwan, intensified the southwest monsoon rains typical for this time of year, according to the state weather forecaster.
“Usually, the peak of the rainy season is July and August, and it so happens that there is a typhoon in the eastern waters of the Philippines that enhances the southwest monsoon,” senior weather specialist Glaiza Escullar told AFP.
More than 200 millimetres (nearly eight inches) of rain fell in the capital in the past 24 hours, which Escullar said was “not unusual.”
Landslides killed a pregnant woman and three children in Batangas province, south of Manila, and blocked three major roads in the mountainous Benguet province, police and disaster officials reported Wednesday.
This brings the death toll from heavy rains over swaths of the country in the past two weeks to at least 12, with tens of thousands sheltering in evacuation centres.
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