DAET, Camarines Norte--- In the wake of the flashfloods and coastal surges that hit Mercedes town and several other municipalities in this province since Saturday, Mercedes Vice Mayor Brenda King-Salalima said that her town would need enough supply of food and water to provide relief to more than 2, 000 affected families.

        Hundreds of affected families had to line up at the municipal government building compound of this town, carrying with them water containers, to wait for the ration of potable water from Labo town. council, the water containers would be brought to Labo town, where the water-purifying machine was located, so the affected residents would not spend long hours to line up for the water ration.

        “They do not want to drink the water supplied by the water district,” a staff of the MDCC said, referring to the affected residents.

Denuded mountainsSurvivors

        The MDCC of Mercedes also reported that only eleven persons were missing after two of the 13 persons earlier reported to be lost at sea were rescued in Barangay Caringo.

        The two survivors were identified as Allen Villar and Joel Ongog.

        “We stayed at our vessel, while our two companions jumped out nervously to the sea,” recounted Villar and Ongog.

        The remaining seven persons confirmed to be missing were Joselito Sanchez, Felix Barbas, Jimmy Barbas, and Edgar Vitalicio of Barangay 4, Poblacion, Mercedes; and Tonton Pajarin, Mario Hiraldo, and Ariel Marmol of Barangay Manguisoc, Mercedes.

Denuded mountainsVinzons flooded

        Vinzons town, meanwhile, remained drenched in floodwaters.

        In Guinacutan village in Vinzons, floodwaters were from knee deep to chest deep, while eight houses were either totally or partially washed out.

        Nora Mauhay, 33, of Sitio Contod, Barangay Guinacutan, recounted how she saved her nine-month old baby girl from being carried away by the rising current.

        “We were staying at a makeshift scaffolding when the floodwaters began rising. When I saw that the water kept on rising, I decided to tie my baby tightly to my body using a piece of cloth.”

        “Then I swam through the rising floodwaters while I was making sure that my baby would not be carried away by the current. Afterwards, my husband came and put my baby on top of an empty water container. We spent the night at a relative’s house.”

Denuded mountainsSwept away

        Emma Bares, 41, of the same place, said most of her belongings were swept away by the floodwaters. “Including most of our clothes,” she said.

        Bares along with Mauhay were asking the barangay officials of their barangay to help them find a place to stay while there was flooding, fearing that the floodwaters would rise again.

        The barangay officials of Guinacutan, through Punong Barangay Pedro Bayani, said they had convened the barangay disaster coordinating council to cooperate with the municipal government in providing relief to the affected families.

        Vinzons was one of the hardest-hit towns by the flashfloods spawned by incessant rains pouring in the province since Friday last week.

Denuded mountains

        In Talisay town, the extended family of Manuel Baytan, 70, were keeping watch on the rising floodwaters. Baytan’s family was living just beside the river.

        They said they had packed up and they were prepared to return to the evacuation center in case the floodwaters would rise again.

        They were blaming the flashfloods on the denudation of the mountains in the province.

        In Labo town, passengers were stranded after a spillway on the Daguit River overflowed, making it (the spillway) impassable.

        Medel Camara, registrar of Camarines Norte College, a private school of 1, 300, said classes had to be suspended after the rising waters of adjacent Labo River had overran the school.

        Damages to school properties were minimal since they were able to transfer important files, records, and equipment before the flood inundated the campus with six-foot floodwaters.

        “Two cars were trapped inside,” said Camara. Damage to the two cars could reach P1.8 million, he said, adding that classes could resume next week.

        “It never happened in our town before, except during the onslaught of super typhoon ‘Rosing’ in 1995, he said, referring to the flashfloods that left their school with two-foot silt and mud.

        “We blame it on the unabated logging in the mountains of our province,” he said further while also laying blame on the nonstop rains that coincided with a strong high tide.

        In Barangay Guinacutan of Labo (apart from Guinacutan in Vinzons), the family of Grecel Sayno, 29, said they would not leave their place while their sleeping area was not yet reached by rising floodwaters.

        “Basta may matotorogan pa kami (while we still have a place to sleep in), she said, “but we are keeping watch of the floodwaters.”