In Baguio, 11-year-old boy swept by floodwaters amid heavy rains

DOWN TO SIZE Work crews break up one of the boulders that rolled down Kennon Road in this photo taken on July 22, as Severe Tropical Storm “Crising” (Wipha) battered Cordillera. The boulder that crushed a car and smashed into a house in Camp 7 may take days to break up for hauling. —NEIL CLARK ONGCHANGCO

BAGUIO CITY—Extreme monsoon rains and strong winds pounding northern and central Luzon over the past week have claimed more lives, the latest of whom was an 11-year-old boy in this city who drowned after being swept into a flooded canal on Monday afternoon.

According to the Baguio Bureau of Fire Protection, the Grade 7 student of Guisad Elementary School may be the city’s first fatality linked to the current stretch of severe weather due to torrential rains and winds brought by Typhoon “Emong” (international name: Co-may) and the prevailing southwest monsoon (“habagat”).

The child was last seen playing near a main road above the canal. His body was later found trapped inside the canal by a 70-year-old resiIn Baguio, 11-year-old boy swept by floodwaters amid heavy rains was clearing debris at a private residence near the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) compound.

Despite efforts by Castillo and a BPI employee to revive him with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the boy was declared dead on the scene. He was a resident of Ferguson Road and the son of an employee of Texas Instruments Philippines.

Elsewhere in the Cordillera region, the Cordillera Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported 11 injuries and one missing person as of July 28.

Missing farmer

A 68-year-old farmer from Barangay Wangal in La Trinidad, Benguet, has not been seen since July 24, the day a landslide hit Sitio Talingoroy in the same village. Search and rescue operations were still under way.

While key mountain roads, such as the Baguio-Bontoc Road in Buguias, Benguet, and Kennon Road have been cleared of debris, the Department of Public Works and Highways continued to report damage.

A shattered road slab in Danglas, Abra, has made part of the Abra-Ilocos Norte Road impassable, and high river levels have submerged a detour section of the Apayao-Ilocos Norte Road in Calanasan, where the Annaran Bridge is under construction.

Meanwhile, in Bulacan, two men separately drowned on Sunday and Monday as floodwaters inundated several towns and cities placed under a state of calamity due to Emong and Storms “Crising” (Wipha) and “Dante” (Francisco), coupled with the southwest monsoon and high tide.

Manuel Lukban Jr., head of the Bulacan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, reported that 22-year-old Kenneth Rendon of Barangay Calero, Malolos City, went missing around 4 p.m. on Sunday while fishing with two companions.

Rendon reportedly jumped off their boat to relieve himself and managed to swim several meters before suddenly sinking. His companions immediately alerted local authorities, and after hours of search efforts by city and provincial rescue teams, his body was recovered the following morning around 9 a.m.

In Bulacan’s Calumpit town, 67-year-old Vicente Melo was found dead inside his flooded house in Purok 5, Barangay Frances, around 8 a.m. on Monday. He had gone missing around 3 a.m.

According to relatives, Melo had consumed alcohol before the incident. Investigators believe he may have slipped and fallen from the stairs, drowning as water inundated his home. —WITH A REPORT FROM CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE