18,000 families face evacuation over rising Marikina River

More than 18,000 families could be forcibly evacuated if the water level of the Marikina River swells to 18 meters, GMA 7 news program "24 Oras" reported Tuesday night.

After the second alarm was raised Tuesday morning past 9 a.m., Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro instructed all community leaders to preemptively evacuate residents and ordered all evacuation centers to switch to a "camp management" footing.

Teodoro also warned that an overflowing Marikina River could affect  the nearby Pasig City, Quezon City, Manila, Cainta, and Rizal.

"Kaya itong Marikina River, binabantayan natin. Magaling kasi itong indicator kung ano ang mangyayari sa ibang mga karatig-lugar natin," Teodoro explained.

Although they saw no current need to evacuate their residents, Marikina's Barangay Tumana's emergency held rescue drills.

"Nasa preparation stage tayo and to call the attention of the people na maghanda, mag-ready, maging preparado sa anumang anunsiyo ng Barangay Tumana," Barangay captain Ziffred Ancheta said.

According to Marikina City Rescue 161, the Marikina River remained under the second alarm late Tuesday evening as the water level was at 16 meters at 9:05 p.m. — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News