Floods cause havoc in the Philippines

29 September, 2009 04:03:00 editor

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A woman is rescued from floodwaters in Bocaue near Manila

MANILA — The weekend storm that has left trail of destrucion is said to be the worst that Manila had experienced in nearly half a century. The death toll is put at 250. Many more deaths are expected as thousands of Filipinos are trapped in their homes by floodwaters.

The storm poured a month’s worth of rain onto Manila in just 12 hours, the government’s weather bureau said.

The Philippine government declared a “state of national calamity” in 27 provinces outside the capital.

Pasig City is one of the hardest-hit Manila suburbs where the heavily silted and polluted Pasig River flows,

Officials said the storm had destroyed the homes of more than 435,000 residents in the capital and in several provinces in the north.

More than 100,000 people displaced by the storm are now housed in roughly 200 evacuation centers.

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