by Miriam G. Desacada
Calbayog City-A woman was reported dead in a landslide as Northern Samar on Monday was placed under a state of calamity after heavy rains struck the province with severe intensity since Saturday.
Heavy rains also caused the evacuation of nearly 25,000 families or 55,000 individuals due to floodings and damages to houses, infrastructures and crops.
Governor Edwin Marino Ongchuan said he declared the state of calamity upon approval of the Provincial Board with recommendation from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC).
A PDRRMC report on Tuesday stated that one female died at Barangay Ynaguingayan in Pambujan
town due to a landslide that occurred in that area. It further stated that nearly 75,000 families or about 370,000 individuals are direly affected by the heavy rainfall and floodings.
Rescue operations and evacuations, also from barangays in other towns, coupled with heightened monitoring of the weather, have been continuing as flood water level rose to approximately 4.6 meters in some towns with overflowing rivers, power outages, and impassable roads and bridges.
Relative to the calamity declaration were the suspension of classes this Wednesday, in both public and private schools, and the suspension of works in offices except in LGU’s disaster, health and public safety agencies, and in banking, health, and food supply private entities.
Onchuan said the provincial government provided basic necessities, medical aid, and sanitary facilities at the evacuation center, while working hard to address any concerns and improve conditions. As flooding subsided in few areas, the governor added: “Together, we’ll overcome this adversity and emerge stronger as a community.”
The heavy rains, as described by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), were caused by the weather’s shear line and the trough or extension of the low-pressure area (LPA) that entered the country but fortunately did not develop into a tropical storm.
PAGASA said a shear line refers to the point where cold air from the northeast monsoon or amihan converges with warm air from the Pacific Ocean, while the LPA hit Surigao City last Saturday. The heavy rains, caused by these two weather events, were heaviest in Eastern Visayas (particularly Northern Samar) than in other parts of Central Visayas and even Luzon.
According to reports from the Regional DRRMC and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), flash floods struck 29 barangays in Northern Samar, 29 also in (western) Samar, and 23 more in Eastern Samar half of which was in Jipapad town, the most severely affected.
A state of calamity was also declared by the Jipapad LGU yesterday, as class suspension was declared in each of the three provinces of Samar island, and work suspension in at least four towns, three in Northern Samar and one in Eastern Samar.
Landslide episodes spread across the region, with two each in Northern Samar (Catarman, Lope de Vega towns) and Samar (Catbalogan City), and one each in Eastern Samar (Jipapad), Leyte (Babatngon), and Southern Leyte (Bontoc).
Floods further damaged roads and bridges, rendering some as not passable to all types of vehicles, as of Tuesday, such as those at seven towns in Northern Samar, four in Eastern Samar, and two in Samar province.
Only nine houses were however damaged—six in Southern Leyte and three in Samar—and there were no stranded passengers although sea travel, particularly small crafts, was temporarily suspended in seaports.
Power outages were experience in at least 15 LGUs, three of these in Eastern Samar, water supply was interrupted in Babatngon, Leyte, and online communications were either occasionally interrupted or unstable in Northern Samar.
The OCD-8 and the RDRRMC reported that they had distributed food packs—worth P1.4 million—to nearly 3,000 families spread in Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte, and Biliran provinces. They identified other needs for the affected families such as drinking water, medicine, and hygiene and family kits.
The RDRRMC on Tuesday said that it raised the status of the region to red alert, which means that torrential rains will continue to this day with severe flooding expected to prompt quick action and evacuation. It had also requested the military for an aerial inspection of several places in the region.
Continuous monitoring is being conducted to this day, as augmentation personnel from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and response teams from two infantry battalions were deployed to Northern Samar, since Monday.
Continuous dissemination of weather updates and bulletins is being undertaken, in tandem with the continuous monitoring by both the military and police forces in the region, the OCD8 added. —Miriam Desacada