Philippines declares state of calamity as floods paralyse capital

Days of relentless rain have brought Philippine capital Manila and its surrounding cities to a standstill, as floods triggered by Typhoon Gaemi (local name Carina) and the seasonal monsoon caught tens of thousands of Filipinos by surprise.

- Mara Cepeda

Affected residents interviewed by The Straits Times on July 24 said the non-stop downpour and widespread flooding brought back grim memories of the deadly, powerful Typhoon Ketsana (local name Ondoy) that killed more than 400 people in 2009. At that time, Metro Manila compromising 16 cities and one town and 23 provinces were placed under a state of calamity.

The Philippine authorities had issued rainfall warnings over the weekend as Typhoon Gaemi gathered strength, but student Simon De Leon, 17, said his family did not expect it to get so bad.

Flood waters were already legdeep inside his home in Manila as he spoke to ST through his account on X, formerly Twitter.

"I think the government was not prepared, and it looks like they didn't anticipate that the typhoon would cause this much damage," said Simon, adding that electricity had been down in his area for hours.

"A lot of typhoons have happened since Ondoy, but it did not flood like this in my village. Carina seems to be much worse than Ondoy," he added.

Images posted on social media and local media reports showed flood waters blanketing main roads, city streets and small alleys across Metro Manila and in the surrounding suburbs due to the typhoon and the intensified southwest monsoon.

A state of calamity was already in place in Metro Manila, home to some 13 million people, from July 24.