Heavy rain leaves 8 Masbate villages flooded, 59 persons evacuated

MASBATE, Philippines — At least 59 persons were evacuated as heavy rain flooded eight barangays (villages) in Masbate City on Saturday.

Alexis Mabini, chief of the Masbate City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said a sudden downpour after the lifting of the storm warning signal, caused flooding in Barangays Ibingay, Espinosa, F. Magallanes, Tugbo,  Kinamaligan, Usab, Mayngaran and Pawa.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard has allowed sea travels to resume in Masbate ports at 9 a.m.

However, due to the zero visibility caused by heavy downpour, a Montenegro roll on, roll off vessel supposedly bound for Pilar in Sorsogon returned to the port of Masbate City at around 12:30 p.m.  /muf