Over 3,000 Palawan residents displaced by weekend rains, floods

Motorists and pedestrians negotiate a flooded portion of the national highway in Barangay Barong-barong in Brooke’s Point, Palawan. (Contributed photo)

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY – Seven hundred eighty one  families or 3,266 residents have so far been displaced by floods and monsoon rains this week in Palawan, according to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO).

The affected families include 29 from four barangays (villages) in Balabac; 39 in Bataraza; 401 from 11 villages in Brooke’s Point along with seven other families who went to their relatives’ houses; 89 in Narra (five barangays); 137 from two barangays in Quezon; 79 in Sofronio Española (two barangays); and six families from three barangays in the northern town of Taytay.

The residents of Quezon have, however, returned home after floods subsided.

Some 219 houses were also damaged while 36 were destroyed in Aborlan, Balabac, Bataraza, Brooke’s Point and Taytay.

Around 33 bancas were also damaged and 16 were destroyed.

The seaport of the island town of Cagayancillo was also damaged.

The local government units of Brooke’s Point, Narra and Sofronio Española have also suspended work in private and public offices.

The Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, together with the PDRRMO, has also transported 42 sacks of rice, 31 cases of assorted canned goods, 120 sacks of coffee and 392 sachets of energy drink for distribution to the evacuees.

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