ILOILO City – Houses were damaged while roads rendered temporarily impassable in parts of Western Visayas due to storm surges and flooding brought by the southwest monsoon enhanced by Tropical Depression “Falcon”.
Four houses with 12 families in Barangay Rima, Rizal here partially damaged due to storm surges, the consolidated report of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) showed.
Another house in Barangay San Pedro, Binalbagan, Negros Occidental was damaged.
In Barangay Baldoza, La Paz here, two houses were partially damaged after a big tree fell due to strong winds.
Meanwhile, more than 40 barangays in Iloilo City, Aklan, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Antique, and Iloilo reported floods that made roads temporarily impassable.
Several trips of sea vessels were also cancelled, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.
At the Parola Wharf here, between 200 to 300 people bound for Guimaras got stranded on Tuesday.
Sea trips resumed at 6:30 a.m. yesterday but ships were ordered to accommodate only 50 percent of their actual passenger capacity.
There were also around 43 stranded boat passengers in San Remegio, Antique.
Also, all trips from Caticlan, Malay, Aklan to Boracay Island and vice versa were cancelled on Tuesday. These resumed by 6:30 a.m. yesterday.
Meanwhile, classes from kindergarten to senior high school, and some up to tertiary level, were suspended Tuesday yesterday because of torrential rains.
Effective 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council raised the alert level in the region to blue.
Under a blue alert, 50 percent of personnel of various disaster management councils are required to be at their posts at any time, with emergency preparations carried out according to earlier developed plans.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Region 6 instructed all its member agencies to monitor the situation in their areas of responsibility and submit reports to the National DRRMC Operations Center thru the Regional DRRMC.
OCD 6 regional director Jose Roberto Nuñez likewise advised all local DRRM councils to raise the status of their respective operations center to blue.
In a bulletin issued late yesterday afternoon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said “Falcon” was 265 kilometers east of Calayan, Cagayan. It continued to move north northwest at 20 kilometers per hour.
The tropical storm has maximum sustained winds of up to 65 kph near the center and gusts of up to 80 kph. It is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility on Friday morning./PN
