Via the Manila Standard: Great flood sinks Metro. Excerpt:
The Monsoon rain that had been pouring for one week on Tuesday was described as worse than the rain dumped by Ondoy in 2009 as it surpassed the rain brought by that storm and affected thousands of families in 11 regions, officials said.
Mahar Lagmay, executive director of the Department of Science and Technology, said the rain that fell in the past 22 hours had reached 472 millimeters, which was higher than the 455 millimeters that Ondoy dumped in 24 hours.
The rainfall had turned Metro Manila into an inland sea, flooded areas that do not normally become flooded, and affected 199,485 families in 11 regions.
Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman and Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo joined National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chief Benito Ramos at the operation center on Tuesday to monitor the government’s relief work.
More than half of Metro Manila was flooded by Monday night, bringing the 638.55-square-kilometer capital to a standstill on Tuesday and dislocating close to 200,000 families in the National Capital Region and in nine neighboring provinces.
Outside of Metro Manila, the provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan were the worst hit by the heavy flooding.
“It’s like waterworld,” Ramos said of Metro Manila on Tuesday afternoon as the government conducted rescue operations.
He said the severely affected areas included the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela, Quezon, Manila, Las Piñas, Marikina, Taguig, Muntinlupa and Parañaque—11 of the metropolis’ 17 constituent cities.
“All cities and towns experienced flooding,” Ramos said.
“The sea and the flood waters looked like one single body of water.”
Ramos was not able to provide an immediate count of the casualties, but a rain-induced landslide in Quezon City buried 12 people alive in Commonwealth village Tuesday morning. Five of the victims were retrieved but died while being treated at the East Avenue Medical Center in the city.
