The national government will deploy more forces to augment local responders in provinces still affected by floods for at least two weeks due to the southwest monsoon.

"That's the major concern because the flood water is still high in some areas and it is still not subsiding. What they need from us is that we sustain the response through augmentation of additional manpower because the local responders are a little tired," OCD deputy administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said.

"We know that is almost two or three weeks so they are requesting for augmentation from the different uniform services," he added.

Alejandro said the additional personnel will be deployed to Pampanga, Zambales and Tarlac.

"So far, Pampanga is really the one that has been hit the hardest this season, but we’ll check again with Zambales and Pangasinan," he said.

According to Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda, 330 barangays in 20 local government units in the province are still flooded.

Pineda told Storycon that this has led to heavy traffic in the Pampanga sections of the North Luzon Expressway. She added some areas are not passable.

"Part of their request is that we should be able to help them with the restoration of power, because there are several municipalities without electricity for several days. Even though our fellow Filipinos are there, they are still dealing with flooding and have no electricity, which means they cannot cook," Alejandro said.

"Even if we provide continuous relief goods, if the power situation is not resolved, there will still be problems. So, we have already relayed this to the (Department of Energy) DOE, and they are checking how they can expedite the restoration of power in those areas. The real challenge, as I mentioned, is when the floodwaters will finally recede. That’s really the main challenge," he added.

Based on the latest data of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) the death toll due to the combined effects of tropical cyclones Luis, Maymay, Neneng and the enhanced southwest monsoon rose to 33 while three others remain missing.

The areas under state of calamity also increased to 117 while the damage to Infrastructure climbed to P6.12 billion and agriculture to P2.32 billion.

The affected population is at 2.5 million families or 8.8 million people, of which 46,000 families or 164,000 individuals are being served inside the 1,365 evacuation centers. Robina Asido/PHS