SAN MIGUEL, Bulacan–Five Bulacan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) rescuers were killed while in rescue operations shortly before 4:00 a.m. in this town on Monday as flood waters submerged about seventy percent of the whole town due to strong rains brought by typhoon Karding, Mayor Roderick Tiongson said.
Gov. Daniel Fernando confirmed the incident to NEWS CORE.
Fernando said over the phone that he was at a funeral house where the five victims were brought.
“Masakit ito, bibigyan natin sila ng parangal, mga bayani sila. Aksidente ang nangyari. Ako mismo magbibigay sa kanilang pamilya ng parangal. Andito ako now sa punenarya,. Sila pa naman ang well trained natin pero talagang grabe ang pagragasa ng malakas na tubig,” he said.
Tiongson said raging waters that started at about 1:00 a.m. on Monday submerged up to 3-7 ft l. flood waters 37-40 out of 49 barangays. “Lagpas tao ang baha, nasa bubong na ang mga tao,” the mayor said.
Tiongson told NEWS CORE over the phone that it was calm when the typhoon hit them at around 7:30-10:20 p.m. on Sunday but raging water past midnight until early dawn soaked most areas of the town.
The mayor described the typhoon as the worst to struck San Miguel in decades.
The newly rehabilitated P150-million worth Bulo dam that is aimed to mitigate flooding in San Miguel, Tiongson said overflowed and caused to discharge waters due to heavy rains brought by the typhoon.
Third District Rep. Lorna Silverio, proponent of the Bulo Dam rehabilitation said because of the heavy volume of rains, the dam could not hold the waters.
