BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – At least 20 houses were damaged in Bago City and the town of Don Salvador Benedicto in Negros Occidental due to strong winds generated by the southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoon “Betty.”
Eighteen houses in the villages of Taloc and Busay were either extensively or partially damaged, according to the Negros Occidental Provincial Disaster Management Program Division (PDMPD).
Two homes in Don Salvador Benedicto town also suffered damages, PDMPD data showed.
Some of the affected residents temporarily sheltered either with relatives or with their neighbors whose homes were unaffected by the weather.
Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 6 said on Friday there were 1,197 affected families in Negros Occidental.
Parts of Western Visayas, including Negros Occidental, will continue to experience the effects of the southwest monsoon, according to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
Typhoon “Betty,” meanwhile, has been downgraded to a severe tropical storm and has exited the Philippine area of responsibility./PN
