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All of Pampanga under state of calamity

Natashya Gutierrez

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The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMC) said the damage to agriculture and infrastructure in Pampanga have reached P23,128,000

WATER EVERYWHERE. Waters rise too in San Antonio, Floridablanca in Pampanga. Twitter photo by @impaugaza

MANILA, Philippines (2nd UPDATE) – Evacuate now.

This is the appeal of Pampanga Gov Lilia Pineda to residents as dikes across the province are at risk of overflowing due to tropical storm Maring. 

As of 4:45 pm, the Philippine Information Agency said the whole province of Pampanga has been palced under state of calamity.

This means calamity funds can easily be accessed and released to aid those in need and prices of basic goods can be controlled to prevent increase.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMC) said the damage to agriculture and infrastructure in Pampanga have reached P23,128,000.

Authorities earlier focused on evacuating residents of Minalin as water has overflowed at the Sta Rita section of the Minalin Tail Dike, while the San Pedro Cutud Tail Dike was 18 inches to spilling level as of 11:04 am, according to the PDRRMC.

“To our [national] government, we won’t ask for help yet, but what we need now is for people here not to wait for the night and only then call for help. We can’t accommodate all of you,” she said in a radio interview with DZMM.

Pineda said the local government unit has enough supplies and goods to go around and is adequately prepared to provide for flood victims, but is short on resources for rescue and evacuation.

Padre de familias, please rescue your families. Please don’t wait for us because there are about two million Kapampangans, and we can’t do it all,” she said, appealing to heads of households.

Before the rains worsen, the governor asked families to move to higher place or go to evacuation centers where “we will be there to take care of you.”

She also asked them to prioritize senior citizens, especially those who are bed-ridden, since many of their casualties last year were the elderly who could not move themselves.

‘Not doing well’

As of noon, 138 barangays in Pampanga are flooded according to PDRRMO’s Twitter account.

Pineda said the rains have not stopped.

“We’re not doing well here,” she said. “One reason is the rain was really hard like the habagat last year. Our dikes in our rivers have collapsed, the water overflowed to the communities… even our tributaries overflowed.”

Pineda said the water from mountains of Nueva Ecija, Zambales and Pampanga have also contributed to flooding in the province.

Pampanga, which is currently under red alert, is one of the hardest-hit areas. At least 3 have died due to drowning there. Nationwide, more than 600,000 people are now affected by the combined effects of Maring and the southwest monsoon. – Rappler.com

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Natashya Gutierrez

Natashya is President of Rappler. Among the pioneers of Rappler, she is an award-winning multimedia journalist and was also former editor-in-chief of Vice News Asia-Pacific. Gutierrez was named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders for 2023.