Authorities reported at least five people drowned. They were trying to help residents surrounded by water.
At least five people who carried out rescue tasks after the passage through the Philippines of the powerful typhoon Noru, they lost their lives after being swept away by the water. The victims were part of a team that was trying to evacuate residents of a neighborhood in San Miguel, a town in the province of Bulacán, on the island of Luzon, a region threatened by the overflow of a river.
The natural phenomenon made landfall this Sunday in the northeast of the country with winds of up to 195 kilometers per hour, and later left the Philippine territory, but not before unloading torrential rains and causing serious flooding in its path, between Sunday afternoon and early morning of this Monday.
The emergency officer of San Miguel de Bulacán, Renan Herrera, confirmed the deaths and said that rescuers may have drowned in the flood.
Somewhat more precise in his information was Daniel Fernando, governor of Bulacán province, north of Manila. The official said the five rescuers used a boat to help trapped residents in the floods when they were hit by a collapsing wall and appeared to have drowned in the rushing waters.
“They were living heroes who they were helping to save the lives of our compatriots in the midst of this calamity,” Fernando told DZMM radio. “This is very sad, really,” he added.
For his part, Lieutenant Colonel Romualdo Andres, police chief of the municipality of San Miguel de Bulacán, near Manila, the capital, stated that the rescuers “were sent by the provincial government to a flooded area.”
Nail 75,000 people were evacuated from their homes ahead of the storm’s arrival, with the weather service warning that heavy rains would cause “major flooding” in vulnerable areas, landslides and crop destruction.
On Polillo Island, northeast of Quezon, a man was injured after falling from the roof of his house, according to authorities. In that province alone, more than 17,000 people were moved to emergency shelters from high-risk communities prone to tidal surges, flooding and landslides.
More than 3,000 inhabitants were evacuated in metropolitan Manila, which suffered from gales and rains overnight. Classes and government work were suspended in and around the capital on Monday as a precaution despite a sunny morning.
All the northern provinces of Aurora and Nueva Ecija, hit by the typhoon, were still without power on Monday and repair crews were working to restore power.
Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla told the president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., that he had called to assess the damage and coordinate the response to the disaster.
The devastating passage of super typhoon Noru through the Philippines
Super typhoon Noru attacked the archipelago country after an explosive intensification of its winds. According to the country’s meteorological service, it made landfall about 100 kilometers northeast of Manila, before losing strength as it crossed Philippine territory.
At its peak, Sunday night, Noru presented maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 240 kilometers per hour.. By Monday morning it had eased to 140 km per hour and gusts to 170 km per hour, and was moving west into the South China Sea at 30 km per hour, according to the weather agency.
On Monday morning there was no sign of the great devastation that many feared in the capital.
“We are ready for all this,” said President Ferdinand Marcos Junior at a meeting with disaster management agencies. “They will think that we overdid it (but) there is no such thing as excess when it comes to catastrophes,” the president added.
The most powerful storm to hit the Philippines this year tore through the main island of Luzon between Sunday and Monday, toppling trees and inundating communities.
With information from agencies.
ES