Tropical Depression ‘Usman’: WV on ‘blue alert’, boat trips cancelled

BY GLENDA TAYONA and IME SORNITO

ILOILO City – Western Visayas is on “blue alert” as government agencies concerned and local disaster risk reduction and management councils (DRRMC) prepare for tropical depression “Usman.”

In Memorandum No. 111-2018, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Region 6 advised them to monitor the situation in their areas of responsibility and file reports to the National DRRMC Operations Center thru the Regional DRRMC.

According to Engineer Joseph Paul Nogra, OCD-6 officer-in-charge, the monitoring and reporting are compulsory.

Around 11 a.m. yesterday, the state weather bureau raised typhoon signal No. 1 over northern Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan, and northern Negros Occidental. The Philippine Coast Guard-Western Visayas (PCG-WV) thus ordered the cancellation of boat trips in these areas.

PCG also halted the trips of roll on, roll off ships and fast crafts in Iloilo city and province, Bacolod City, and Negros Occidental.

In Antique, three vessels took shelter due to inclement weather. In Iloilo, 768 passengers were stranded, and so were 67 rolling cargoes and 11 vessels.

In Capiz, PCG recorded 35 stranded passengers and two grounded motorboats.

In Aklan, there were 48 stranded passengers; so were 24 rolling cargoes and five vessels.

However, Lieutenant Commander Ramil Palabrica, spokesperson of PCG in the region, clarified as of this writing that trips of motorboats plying the Iloilo City – Guimaras route and vice versa remained normal.

He urged the public to monitor weather developments on radio and television, and for fishermen not to venture out to sea for the time being.

“Usman” is projected to make a landfall on Eastern Visayas today, Dec. 28.

The tropical depression is expected to pass through Central and Western Visayas towards Palawan province./PN