Philippine government declares “state of calamity” after storm

(NECN/APTV/ABS-CBN) – Rescuers stepped up their efforts in the northern Philippines on Sunday as the skies started to clear a day after a tropical storm tore through and left more than 70 people dead or missing in the worst flooding in more than four decades. The government declared a “state of calamity” in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces, allowing officials to utilise emergency funds for relief and rescue, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said. Army troops, police and civilian volunteers have rescued more than four thousand people. Tropical Storm Ketsana roared across the northern Philippines near Manila on Saturday, dumping more than a month’s worth of rain in just 12 hours. Aerial pictures in Cainta showed the severity of the flooding with buses nearly completely submerged under water and people climbing on top of their vehicles to seek shelter from the flooded streets. Emergency workers could be seen carrying bodies on makeshift stretchers in Marikina. One rescuer was seen lifting the small body of a child covered in mud. Distress calls and e-mails from thousands of residents in metropolitan Manila and their worried relatives flooded TV and radio stations overnight. Ketsana swamped entire towns, set off landslides and shut down Manila’s airport for several hours. Military Chief General Victor Ibrado, accompanied by journalists, flew over several suburban Manila towns on Sunday on board air force helicopters and saw many people still waiting to be rescued on roofs of their houses in flooded villages.