Thousands stranded by floods in Philippine capital as deadly typhoon prompts calls for climate action

CNN —

Much of the Philippine capital remained underwater Thursday after deadly Typhoon Gaemi worsened torrential monsoon rains that lashed the country, trapping thousands of people in rising flood waters and causing widespread damage.

Continuous heavy rains, massive flooding and landslides across the Philippines killed at least 13 people and displaced more than 600,000, Philippine authorities said during a disaster relief briefing Thursday.

Unlike in Taiwan, the typhoon – known locally as Carina – didn’t make landfall in the Philippines, but its powerful outer bands dumped more than 300 mm (12 inches) of rain in the Manila region and parts of the main island Luzon, prompting officials to declare a “state of calamity” in the capital on Wednesday and evacuate tens of thousands of people.

Video and images from Manila show people wading through chest-deep water and some clinging precariously to overhead power lines as major roads turned into rivers. Families with children wrapped in towels or plastic ponchos huddled together on dinghies as disaster response teams rescued them from flooded houses.

Some parts of Metro Manila – home to 13 million people – have reported floods as high as one-story buildings, with some residents spotted waiting for rescue on roofs, according to the official Philippine News Agency.

The southwest monsoon, supercharged by the typhoon, is still causing misery and destruction in the Philippines even after Gaemi moved north and made landfall in Taiwan early Thursday as the equivalent of a Category 3 major hurricane in the Atlantic.

Rescuers assist a child getting off a boat along a flooded road following heavy rains brought by Typhoon Gaemi, in Marikina City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on July