BACOLOD City – A five-year-old boy died while more than 13,500 families in Negros Occidental, including this capital city, were displaced by the heavy rains and floods due to the southwest monsoon enhanced by Tropical Storm “Ferdie” as of Saturday, September 14.
According to the Bacolod City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), alias “James,” a resident of this city’s Barangay Taculing, drowned after he was swept away by strong water current while walking on their way home with his mother and seven-year-old brother on Friday, September 13. Their house was located under the Taculing bridge.
His body was found the next day, September 14, floating in a river in Barangay Singcang-Airport.
In a Bacolod CDRRMO report as of 11 p.m. on Saturday, 10 barangays were inundated which prompted the evacuation of about 482 families.
These barangays were Alijis, Cabug, Handumanan, Mansilingan, Pahanocoy, Punta Taytay, Singcang-Airport, Sum-ag, Taculing, and 39.
Across the province, there were 13,115 families or 42,702 persons affected in 65 villages of 15 local government units (LGUs), data from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) showed.
A total of 1,321 families, composed of 4,340 persons, were staying in evacuation centers while 197 families or 638 individuals are staying with relatives or in other houses as of Saturday.
PDRRMC data further showed that three houses were destroyed and 69 others were damaged.
“The provincial government is conducting continuous monitoring of increased water level and flooding incidents and coordinates with LGUs regarding augmentation of prepositioned assets once needed,” the PDRRMC said in its report on Saturday.
Moreover, power interruptions were experienced in some parts of the province after several electric posts fell down and uprooted trees affected electricity wires. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency)/PN
