SAN NICOLAS–This town has been placed under a state of calamity after rampaging floodwaters surged through when a dike broke at the height of the Typhoon Karen.

Mayor Leoncio Saldivar III said the breach on the Calaocan dike along the Ambayaoan River was about 100 meters long and immediately caused flooding in barangays Calaocan, Cabitnongan, Poblacion East, Poblacion West, Casaratan, Sobol and San Roque.

More than 600 families have been affected and were evacuated to Central Elementary School and in Calaocan Elementary School in barangays Poblacion and Calaocan.

Saldivar said some houses were fully submerged in floodwaters but no one was reported hurt or killed owing to timely evacuation operations.

The provincial government immediately senta rescue and relief team as well as heavy equipment and rubber boats.

The Ambayaoan River is about 500 meters wide and the affected portion is about 100 meters, the mayor said.

Saldivar said it would take three to five days more before floodwaters fully subside and the evacuees are able to return to their homes.

The mayor said that he had talked to Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and other concerned agencies to include the Ambayaoan River in the Agno Flood Control System (AFCS) project under President Arroyo’s 10-point agenda.

Saldivar said they need about P127 million for the Ambayaoan River dike and last week Engr. Fidel Ginez, Public Works regional director and head of the AFCS, assured him an initial P10 million has been allocated for initial work.#

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