ILOILO – Western Visayas is not in the path of typhoon “Quinta” (international name: “Molave”) but floods, landslides and evacuations occurred in different parts of the region.
As of 12 noon yesterday, a total of 651 individuals in Antique and Negros Occidental temporarily moved to evacuation centers, consolidated data from the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) showed.
In this province, 38 families in flood-prone areas of Santa Barbara and Mina towns were evacuated, according to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO).
As the typhoon brought torrential rain, water levels of dams across the region rose early Monday morning.
PDRRMO head Dr. Jery Bionat said the Moroboro Dam in the municipality of Dingle opened five of its 13 gates to release large volumes of water from the upstream of the Jalaur River.
In Negros Occidental and Capiz, the police provincial offices reported six barangays flooded.
To note, areas in northern Panay, including the provinces of Capiz and Aklan and northern Antique and northern Iloilo, were among those under Storm Signal No. 1.
Due to the inclement weather, the Philippine Coast Guard also suspended trips of motorboats plying between the Caticlan jetty port and Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan in the morning. Trips were allowed at 3 p.m. but only until 6 p.m.
Other ports with suspended sea transportation due to the typhoon were Culasi port in Roxas City for trips going to Batangas and Parola port in Iloilo City for Iloilo-Guimaras trip and vice versa.
Also, trips of vessels from Antique (Caluya, Libertad and Culasi) to Mindoro/Palawan and vice versa are all cancelled.
Around Monday noon, the Office of Civil Defense Region 6 reported a landslide in Barangay Cabulihan, Malay.
The provincial police offices of Aklan and Capiz, meanwhile, reported three roads not passable due to landslide and flooding. One was the San Joaquin, Iloilo to Hamtic, Antique road.
In the Iloilo town of Leon, the local government also reported a landslide in Barangay Tacurong Norte.
There were also 23 towns in Antique, Aklan, Iloilo, and Capiz that lost power supply, according to the PRO-6.
Work in provincial government offices in Antique was also suspended except those in critical offices.
As of Monday night, no other major incidents or casualties or injuries were reported due to the typhoon.
The regional office also noted a total of 226 evacuation centers were prepared as of Monday while 319 search and rescue responders were deployed and 1,113 are on standby across the region.
According to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), “Quinta” made landfall five times in different areas in Albay, Quezon, Marinduque, and Oriental Mindoro from Sunday to Monday.
The typhoon is expected to leave the Philippine Area of Responsibility Tuesday morning but will maintain its strength as its moves west-northwestward, Pagasa said./PN
