Prepared Manila survives Typhoon Glenda

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos were warned about the threat of storm surges from Typhoon Rammasun or Glenda.

How did the bayside city Manila survive the typhoon?
Pia Ranada reports.

Typhoon Glenda covers Manila in curtains of water. It’s the first typhoon to make rainfall in 2014. More aware now because of typhoons of previous years,

Manila prepares for the onslaught. Employees of the Metro Manila Development Authority lay down a defensive wall of sand bags in Manila Bay along Roxas Boulevard. The sandbags are for the 2-meter storm surge predicted to happen as the eye of the typhoon nears Manila Bay.

FRANCIS TOLENTINO, MMDA CHAIRMAN: The purpose of these bags is to increase the height of the dike, the water breaker as well as to increase the length. (00:51) In case of a possible projected 2-meter storm surge I think this would also help. Ito ang historically na tinatamaan kasi ito yung gitna eh. (This is historically what gets hit because this is the center.)

At 8 in the morning, the eye of Glenda comes and goes, thankfully, without the surge. So Manila turns it attention to other pressing matters such as roads blocked by fallen trees.

JOSEPH ESTRADA, MANILA CITY MAYOR: Maraming mga kalyeng hindi madaanan eh. Nagbagsakan yung mga puno kaya ngayon, dalawapu’t anim na towing trucks kinukuha ngayon kaya malinis-linis na. Tsaka ang maganda ngayon, hindi masyadong bumaha ang Maynila. (Many roads are impassable. Trees were falling so now we are deploying 26 towing trucks so it’s cleaner. What’s good this time around, Manila was not that flooded.)

But while the city itself did not suffer great damage, lives have been turned upside down. There are more than 4,300 people in this evacuation center in Baseco.

SHEENA AYADIN, RESIDENT, BASECO, MANILA: Malakas yung hangin eh nakatulog kami, kahimbingan ng tulog, eh lumipad po yung isang yero namin. Tapos hinabol pa nga ng asawa ko tapos tinalian yung bubong. Tapos yun hanggang ng umaga na lang, lahat na ng yero namin natanggal na. (The wind was strong, we fell asleep. One of the metal sheets of our roof flew away. My husband ran after it and tied our roof. But in the morning, our entire roof was gone.)

I visit Sheena’s village to see the damage.

I’m now in village 649, Baseco in Manila and behind me you can see a boat that fell down this morning around 8 am because of Typhoon Glenda’s strong winds. Nobody got hurt because the entire village was evacuated the previous night. But the boat apparently has been inland for 2 years being repaired. This just proves how powerful Typhoon Glenda’s winds were but at least here in Manila, people’s lives were spared.

The evacuees have not yet been allowed to return to their homes, but that doesn’t mean they can’t start rebuilding. Further down the road, street vendors are back in business hours after the typhoon’s center passed over their village. Life just can’t wait to get back to normal.
Pia Ranada, Rappler, Manila. – Rappler.com