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Rescuers using rubber boats evacuate residents from their flooded homes in the village of Tumana, Marikina town, in suburban Manila on August 7, 2012, after torrential rains inundated most of the capital. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images)
Much of the Philippines, including the capital city of Manila, has been doused with heavy rains, causing floods and landslides.
At least 16 people were killed in metropolitan Manila in floods and landslides triggered by rains, reported broadcaster ABS-CBN.
Around 80 percent of metropolitan Manila was flooded on Tuesday, prompting hundreds of thousands of residents to seek higher ground and refuge, The Inquirer reported.
Nathaniel Servando, a local official, said that “the worst is not over for metro Manila” due to rains that are expected to last until Wednesday. But, he added, “it may start to subside on Thursday.”
Floods reached as high as three meters, or around 10 feet, in Manilla and forced local officials to suspend work in government offices and suspend classes at several schools, the Manila Bulletin reported. The Philippine Stock Exchange was also flooded and was closed down on Tuesday.
Rosario Brutas, a market vendor in the province of Cavite in the region of Luzon, which was also hard-hit by the rains, told the Inquirer that she woke up Tuesday to find her home submerged.
“We woke up before dawn to find our bed afloat,” she said, speaking from a hospital where she took refuge.
The floods have drawn comparison to 2009‘s Tropical Storm Ondoy, which dumped an enormous amount of rain on the country. But weather officials said the rainfall in recent days surpassed Ondoy, reported ABS-CBN.
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