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A farmer tills his rice field as waters from a burst river dike destroyed at the height of Super Typhoon Man-yi start to inundate fields at a farming village in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija province on Nov. 19, 2024. Ted Aljibe, AFP

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Reuters

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1732056233807viber_image_2024-11-20_06-42-55-970.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"><span id="isPasted" style="white-space:pre-wrap">A farmer tills his rice field as waters from a burst river dike destroyed at the height of Super Typhoon Man-yi start to inundate fields at a farming village in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija province on Nov. 19, 2024. Ted Aljibe, AFP</span></span></span></span></div><p>ALIAGA, Nueva Ecija — Filipino farmer Ferdinand Pascua faces financial ruin after heavy rain brought by Typhoon Pepito sent torrents of water down a river near his shanty, bursting through an earthen dike and inundating land he has tilled for a decade.</p><p>Pepito was a super typhoon when it slammed into the Philippines over the weekend -- the sixth major storm to hit the archipelago nation in the past month.</p><p>Pascua&#x27;s farm in Aliaga municipality, three hours drive north of Manila, was not in Pepito&#x27;s path, but the nearby Talavera river brought the storm right to his door on Sunday.</p><p>&quot;We heard the water&#x27;s huge roar and the sound of collapsing earth,&quot; Pascua, 38, told AFP on Tuesday as he hauled wet clothes across knee-deep mud in his front yard.</p><p>&quot;We were worried and in shock. I took my children to my parents&#x27; home and returned to retrieve our stuff.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/regions/2024/11/18/floods-hit-northern-philippines-after-typhoon-forces-dam-release-621">Floods hit northern Philippines after typhoon forces dam release</a></div><p>The Talavera, swollen by heavy rain in the northern mountains of Luzon island where Pepito crossed, took part of Pascua&#x27;s shanty and destroyed around 200 hectares of farmland that should have been protected by the dike.</p><p>While the typhoon is now far away, officials say the flooding will persist for the next three days as brown river water gushes through a 40-meter gap in the remains of the four-meter tall dike and flows through dozens of houses in Santa Monica village.</p><p>&quot;It (typhoon) did not hit us directly. The rain was not heavy. The problem is the rain that fell in Aurora flowed down here,&quot; Yolando Santos, the elected village chief, told AFP, referring to the neighboring mountainous province to the east where Pepito made its second landfall on Sunday.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/regions/2024/11/18/drone-video-severe-flooding-caused-by-pepito-1253">DRONE VIDEO: Severe flooding caused by Pepito</a></div><div><strong>DEEPER INTO DEBT </strong></div><p>While no one was killed or injured when the dike burst, villagers told AFP they worried that the farms will be permanently silted with sand and unfit for cultivation.</p><p>Many, like Pascua, had borrowed money from local loan sharks to finance the rice and corn crops that were wiped out, and they will now have to go deeper into debt.</p><p>Santos said about 200 hectares of farmland in the villages of Santa Monica and nearby Santa Lucia were flooded.</p><p>Corn crops on the other side of the river were also flattened as the waterway doubled in width to 80 meters.</p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/14/from-kristine-to-pepito-6-cyclones-batter-ph-one-after-another-2209">From Kristine to Pepito: 6 cyclones batter PH one after another</a></div><p>On Tuesday, farmer Eduardo Santos, 53, stood on the edge of the damaged dike about 300 meters from his flooded house and watched the torrent of water go past.</p><p>Santos had borrowed P60,000 at five percent interest a month to plant three hectares of rice and two hectares of corn.</p><p>He lost it all and now worries if three of his four children still in school will be forced to drop out.</p><p>&quot;Getting back up is such a difficult thing. We do not know how to start all over again,&quot; Santos said.</p><p>&quot;We have no other option but to borrow money because we do not have funds to prepare the land for planting.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/14/nasa-philippines-overlapping-storms-unusual-653">NASA: Philippines’ overlapping cyclones ‘unusual’</a></div><p>Pascua said he was worried about how to find more work now that the farmland had been ruined.</p><p>For now, the family could rely on his 39-year-old wife, who works as a babysitter with a Manila family.</p><p>&quot;Her pay is low but we are counting on it at this time until I can find a job,&quot; Pascua said.</p><p>&quot;Water is a formidable adversary.&quot;</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Villagers in northern Luzon are worried that farms will be permanently silted with sand and unfit for cultivation after the onslaught of typhoon Pepito. </p>

Villagers in northern Luzon are worried that farms will be permanently silted with sand and unfit for cultivation after the onslaught of typhoon Pepito.

Burst dike leaves Filipino farmers under water

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Burst dike leaves Filipino farmers under water

Reuters

Published November 20, 2024 06:51 AM PHT

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Updated November 21, 2024 05:46 AM PHT

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