Floods brought about by nonstop rains in Bicol over the weekend claimed the life of an 18-year-old girl in Camarines Sur on Sunday and displaced over 3,500 people in Albay.
Heavy rain yesterday prompted the Philippine Coast Guard in the region to prevent all small vessels from sailing out to sea. Classes in preschools in Albay were ordered suspended by Gov. Joey Salceda.
Three Cebu Pacific flights to Naga City and from Manila were canceled.
Rivers overflowed, flooding five towns and Legazpi City in Albay and three towns in Camarines Sur, Bernardo Alejandro, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) regional director and chair of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC), said.
In Albay, some 3,500 people were moved away from flooded low-lying areas in three towns.
Lea Alarcio, 18, drowned while crossing a swollen spillway in Barangay Monte Calvario in Buhi town in Camarines Sur at around 3 p.m. on Sunday. Her body was recovered an hour later at the Rinaga River in Barangay San Pedro, also in Buhi.
Alejandro said Barangay Baliwag Viejo in Minalabac town, a large area in Buhi and the nearby Bombon highway in Camarines Sur, were flooded.
Other villages went underwater as the Lake Buhi reportedly overflowed. Lucena Bermeo, head of the secretariat of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Camarines Sur.
A landslide was reported in Burabod, Garchitorena, Camarines Sur, Bermeo said in a phone interview. Two others hit a national road in Barangay Patitinan in Sañgay, Camarines Sur, and in Barangay Sugod in Tiwi, Albay, the OCD-Bicol said.
Albay’s flooded areas included most of Legazpi City’s downtown area, Barangays Busay in Daraga, Masarawag in Guinobatan, Sugcad and Ilaod in Polangui, and large areas in Libon and Jovellar.
Salceda ordered the evacuation of 679 families or 3,537 people in Polangui, Jovellar and Libon,
Only one person was reported injured.
Jocelyn Pamor, 46, a crew member of TV5, suffered multiple abrasions when she was carried by floodwater while crossing the Cagsawa River in Barangay (village) Busay, Daraga, on Sunday. She was with 10 other crew members taking footage at the Cagsawa Ruins, a historical and tourist spot, for the month-long Cagsawa Festival.
Alejandro placed damage to agriculture in Albay at P8.6 million, affecting 220 hectares of rice land.
As of noon yesterday, weathermen said the low-pressure area (LPA) east of Dipolog City in Zamboanga del Norte had dissipated, but northern and central Luzon would continue to experience cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms.
Rains may become widespread over the eastern section and trigger flash floods and landslides due to the wind convergence.