A man clung on to the pole of a basketball court as he tried to cross flooded area in Quezon City, north of Manila, Philippines, on Tuesday. Relentless rains submerged a third of the Philippines’ overpopulated capital, and triggered a landslide that killed several people and sent emergency crews scrambling to rescue and evacuate tens of thousands of residents.
MANILA — Rescue workers on Tuesday raced to pluck people from their roofs and out of fast-flowing water as the worst flooding in two years submerged a third of Manila, the Philippines’ overpopulated capital.
More than 50 people have been killed and at least 250,000 evacuated in the last week due to a series of storms, monsoon rains and flooding, officials said.
“It’s like ‘Waterworld,’ ” said Benito Ramos, the head of the government’s disaster relief agency, referring to a Hollywood film depicting a submerged Earth.
Major streets in Manila turned to rivers on Monday after a series of tropical storms intensified what has historically been a period of heavy monsoon rains.
Schools, business and government offices were ordered closed while city residents watched in horror as neighborhood after neighborhood was submerged. Tens of thousands of city residents were rescued or swam to safety. Others huddled on rooftops in hopes that the waters would subside.
Richard Gordon, the chairman of the Red Cross of the Philippines, described a perilous situation for rescuers, many of whom were using rafts and makeshift boats to traverse flooded slum areas.
“We have areas where our people can’t get in because there are live wires in the water. They face the risk of electrocution.” said Mr. Gordon. “We just have to grin and bear it and do our best to rescue people.”
In Quezon City, a hard-hit suburb of Manila, nine people including three children were killed on Tuesday when a landslide triggered by heavy rain buried a slum area.
Nine provincial areas near Manila declared a state of calamity on Tuesday, triggering national government relief efforts. For much of the day on Tuesday, the only major highway linking Manila to the north of the country was submerged and closed to traffic, stranding hundreds of motorists. The United States Embassy Web site said it would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Manila is particularly vulnerable to flooding. The city, home to more than 10 million people, sits in a low-lying area between a large lake and the ocean. The lake, called Laguna de Bay at the south of the city, drains to the ocean via the Pasig River, which runs through the center of town. The lake and the river are both heavily silted and prone to overflowing.
A major dam north of the city that provides much of the Manila’s water supplies crested in recent days, forcing officials to open flood gates that released additional water into the city. In addition, the ocean bay beside Manila has swelled during high tide in recent days.
The result has been a deluge of water coming from the northern dam, the southern lake, the ocean to the west and an overflowing river down the center.
The flooding triggered fears in Manila of a repeat of Typhoons Ketsana and Parma, which struck within a one week period in 2009. The storms caused flooding that affected more than 9 million and killed 929, according to the government disaster relief agency.
Mr. Gordon, with the Philippine Red Cross, said he did not expect the situation to become as bad as the storms of 2009.
“I feel a little positive that the sun will come out tomorrow,” he said. “We are trying to be positive but a lot of people are suffering tonight.”
