WEATHER DISTURBANCE Floodwaters rise in the village of Los Angeles in Butuan City as Tropical Storm “Dante” (international name: Choi-wan) dumps heavy rain in Agusan del Norte province on Monday and Tuesday. —ERWIN M. MASCARIÑAS
Tropical Storm Dante (international name Choi-Wan) left at least three people dead and six others missing as it headed for Luzon after making landfall in Eastern Samar province, officials said on Wednesday.
The storm moved westward, cutting across Samar Island, after landing on Sulat town, Eastern Samar, at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. It then blew northwestward toward the Southern Luzon Region on Wednesday.
Although it did not hit Mindanao, the storm triggered torrential rain in the Davao and Soccsksargen regions.
A landslide killed a one-year-old boy in Panaoran, Davao de Oro province, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported on Wednesday.
A 71-year-old man and a 14-year-old drowned in floodwaters in Malalag, Davao del Sur province, and in Norala, South Cotabato province.
Two young boys in Calubian town, Leyte province, and four fishermen in Pilar town in Capiz, were reported missing following a night of massive flooding caused by the heavy downpour.
Brando Salinao, 7, and his younger brother, Ruel, 2, were sleeping around 11:50 p.m. on Tuesday night when their house was swept by a flash flood, according to reports received by Philippine National Police in Eastern Visayas.
Their father, Dominador, survived, the police said.
The four missing fishermen were on motorboat that capsized, according to a report from the Office of Civil Defense in Western Visayas.
Mass evacuations
The storm was the third to hit land this year. A powerful typhoon, Bising (international name Surigae) spared the country in April.
Dante forced thousands of people to flee their homes. Officials also cancelled classes and ordered work stoppages in many provinces in Luzon, as the storm stranded thousands of ferry passengers at various ports.
Disaster management authorities reported at least 6,366 people were either displaced or affected by the storm in the Davao Region, Southern Leyte province, Western Visayas and the Bicol Region as of Wednesday morning.
About 2,500 others were stranded at ferry stations in Matnog, Sorsogon province, and in the cities of Iloilo, Bacolod and Cebu, after authorities ordered boats to remain at the ports because of the rough waters.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, local officials suspended modular and online classes in public and private schools and ordered work stoppages in government offices in the provinces of Quezon, Camarines Sur, Albay, Marinduque, Romblon, Catanduanes and Sorsogon, except frontline health and emergency services.
Local fishermen rescued the crew members of a motorized banca that capsized on Wednesday off Romblon, Romblon, as it sailed toward Corcuera town to seek shelter from the storm, police said.
Western Luzon next
The state weather bureau said that after 18 hours between Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon, Dante had made six landfalls across the across the provinces of Eastern Samar, Masbate, Romblon and Oriental Mindoro.
Its sixth landfall as of 2 p.m. was in Pola town in Oriental Mindoro, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
By 4 p.m., Dante was over the coastal waters of Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro province, with maximum winds of 65 km per hour and gusts of up to 90 kph, and was moving northwest at 15 kph.
Residents in the western portion of Luzon island, particularly Bataan, Zambales and Pangasinan provinces, as well as Cavite, Batangas, Romblon, Marinduque, Mindoro provinces in Southern Luzon, should brace for moderate to heavy, with at times intense, rain on Thursday.
Metro Manila, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon, the northern portion of Palawan, Aklan Antique and the rest of Central Luzon may also experience moderate to heavy rains as Dante makes blows in the north-northwest or northwest direction.
Tropical cyclone wind signal #2 was raised on Wednesday afternoon over Zambales, the northern and central portion of Mindoro provinces, the southwestern portion of Bulacan, and the western portions of Pampanga, Tarlac and Pangasinan.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the storm caused an estimated P14.6 million in damage, mostly to farms in the provinces of Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, North and South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.
The DA said Dante destroyed 616 hectares of rice and corn lands. About 500 metric tons of produce, mostly rice, were lost.