Flood waters inundated many villages in Calumpit, Bulacan due to the effects of typhoon Egay and Habagat that battered northern portions of Luzon.
Residents of barangays Meyto, Bulusan, Panducot, Frances, and Gugo are most affected by the flooding, with some homes engulfed by two-meter floodwaters.
Guada Galicia, a resident of Barangay Bulusan, said that it has been more than a decade since they have seen this level of flooding, the last time was during Typhoon Quiel and Pedring in 2011.
“We are used to flooding whenever there’s a typhoon or it’s high tide but it’s been a while since flood waters reached this high. Even the houses not previously hit by floods are now affected,’ Galicia said in Filipino.
Her own home is swamped by thigh-deep flood and belongings they cannot haul to the second floor of their home stay immersed in the murky water.
Boats have become the main form of transportation in many parts of Calumpit, as wheeled vehicles and even trucks could no longer enter many parts of the town.
But boat rides are steep, amounting to P80 per head to reach the town center, and many residents opt to wade through the chest-deep waters.
Residents fear that the flooding will go even higher in the next few days when surrounding dams release more water into the Angat River.
“We worry every time the dams in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan release water. Flood waters reach up to four to five meters high,” she added.
Angat, Ipo, and Bustos dams severely affect flood water levels in Calumpit and have been discharging water into the Angat and Pampanga rivers since Friday.
Even with the rains petering out as Egay exits the Philippine area of responsibility, flood water is rising in Calumpit.
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