BALANGA CITY, Bataan, (PNA) — Some 57 villages in Bataan were hit Monday by foot-deep up to seven feet of flood waters after heavy monsoon rains since Sunday night.
Cherry Matias of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) said the affected barangays were from the towns of Dinalupihan, Hermosa, Orani, Samal, Abucay and Orion and the city of Balanga.
Partial report of PDRRMC showed there were 4,268 families with 19,745 individuals affected.
Some 172 families were evacuated in five evacuation centers.
David Jimenez, 75, of Magsaysay in Dinalupihan town died of drowning during the height of the floods Monday morning.
In Samal town, hard hit was Barangay San Juan where flood waters rose to more than seven feet.
The MacArthur Highway from Balanga City to the Layac junction in Dinalupihan was no longer passable to light vehicles.
The Gapan-Olongapo Road in Layac was not passable to all types of vehicles.
Big dumptrucks, courtesy of the provincial government of Bataan, served as means of transportation for residents and commuters going in and out of Dinalupihan town proper.
Layac is the entrance to Olongapo City and Zambales and exit to Bataan, Pampanga and Metro Manila.
Classes from pre-elementary up to high school both public and private, in 11 towns and one city in the province remained suspended on Tuesday.