Flood, landslide isolate town in Eastern Samar

WATER MISERY The town of Jipapad in Eastern Samar province was submerged in floodwater after it was hit by Tropical Depression “Samuel.” —PHOTO FROM FELIZA RECARE

TACLOBAN CITY—Flooding and landslide at the height of Tropical Depression “Samuel” cut off a town in Eastern Samar from the rest of the province and raised the specter of its people running out of food and basic supplies.

The landslide all but buried a village that served as access for the town of Jipapad to the rest of the province.

Compounding the misery of residents of Jipapad was the possibility of them starving as food supplies being kept by the municipal government were soaked in rainwater at the height of Samuel on Tuesday.

Creonto Mato, the town’s disaster risk reduction and management officer, said the flooding was the worst to hit the town since 2006.

People hungry

“We are asking for food relief,” Mato said. “The people are now hungry,” he said.

“It’s OK if it’s only the clothes that were wet as these could be dried,” he added.

The people, he said, “really need food.”

“We don’t have food supply for our people as our town was rendered isolated” by the landslide in the village of Roxas, which connects the town to the rest of the province.

Roxas is the town’s entry point in going to the nearby town of Arteche, which was also hit by massive flooding.

Mato said a landslide had also occurred in the village of Catumsan in Arteche, which was adjacent to Roxas.

Other needs

He said aside from food, the town also urgently needed medicines as the flooding was likely to bring diseases.

Mato added that practically all the 13 villages of the town, with a population of more than 15,000, had been flooded.

Two-story houses were submerged in the water, he said.

Jipapad, according to Mato, was vulnerable to floods because it served as a “catch basin” of water coming from the Oras and Binuwangan rivers.

“We really need help. Our power and communication lines are still down,” Mato said.

He added that floodwater had receded in several villages of the town but there were still areas where flooding had not eased.

The Inquirer was able to reach Mato by phone in the town of Oras, 155 kilometers from the capital Borongan City, and where Mato went to appeal for aid.

Washed out

According to Mato, he learned of what happened to Jipapad through two-way radio messages between members of the town’s volunteer group, Kabalikat Civicom.

He said based on an initial estimate made by the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, at least 35 houses in Jipapad were washed out by the flooding.