MOVING Disaster response officials begin to evacuate residents of Abuor and Margaay villages in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, on Saturday, as heavy rains spawned by the southwest monsoon enhanced by Supertyphoon “Goring” (international name: Saola) trigger floods. —PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NARVACAN DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OFFICE
LAOAG CITY—Heavy rains spawned by the “habagat” (southwest monsoon) and enhanced by Supertyphoon “Goring” (international name: Saola) triggered floods and the evacuation of some 2,000 persons in Ilocos Sur and Cagayan provinces on Saturday and Sunday.
Ilocos Sur Gov. Jeremias Singson, in a radio interview on Saturday, said the affected families in his province were from the flooded low-lying areas in the towns of San Ildefonso, Santo Domingo and Narvacan.
In Narvacan, the town’s disaster risk and reduction management office (DRRMO) said its teams started on Saturday morning the preemptive evacuation of at least 200 individuals amid widespread flooding in several villages.
In Santo Domingo, 17 families or 66 individuals were also evacuated to safer grounds.
A report from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office on Sunday, said that around 153 families or 629 individuals were affected by flooding in Ilocos Sur, with some 94 families or 421 individuals brought to evacuation centers.
Housed in shelters
In Cagayan, torrential rains and gusty winds affected at least 448 families or 1,473 people on Sunday in the towns of Gonzaga, Lal-lo, Sta. Ana, Gattaran, Baggao, Aparri and Sta. Teresita, the provincial DRRMO (PDRRMO) said.
According to the PDRRMO, about 288 persons from 141 families in the province were among the first to be evacuated or have opted to stay with relatives living in higher places on Sunday, while about 100 families were isolated in the flooded Masical village in Baggao town.
In Aparri town, another group of 118 families or 383 people were evacuated while some houses in Minanga village were submerged in waist-deep water.
Twenty families bound for the coastal village of Calayan were stranded at the Aparri port and were housed at a shelter in Macanaya village.
A liquor ban and no fishing-no sailing policy have been imposed in Cagayan province since Saturday, the PDRRMO said.
In Sto. Niño town in Cagayan, floods caused by swollen rivers rendered several roads impassable.
There were also about five families or 25 people brought to evacuation centers in Divilacan town of Isabela province.
The eastern portion of Isabela covering the towns of Divilacan, Palanan, Dinapigue and the extreme northern portion of Aurora, mainly the town of Dilasag, have been placed under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) No. 3 on Sunday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.
As of 5 p.m. on Sunday, Goring was estimated to be 95 kilometers east of Casiguran, Aurora, packing a maximum wind of 185 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 230 kph as it slowly moved south southeastward, according to Pagasa.
Goring would continue to bring heavy rains in many parts of Luzon in the next few days, the weather bureau said, and was expected to remain a supertyphoon until it makes landfall over southern Taiwan on Wednesday or early Thursday.
Swollen rivers
Aside from having to evacuate residents in flooded areas, several roads and bridges in Narvacan town in Ilocos Sur were also damaged by swollen rivers, said Singson.
“After the roads and bridge were taken away by river waters, a two-story concrete house in Narvacan’s San Pedro village also collapsed into the raging river,” added Singson in Ilokano.
The same house was already damaged during the onslaught of Typhoon “Egay” (international name: Doksuri) in the province last July and the land where it stood eventually gave way on Saturday, said Singson.
Streams of murky waters from swollen rivers flooded farmlands and villages and rendered roads impassable in the towns of Sigay, Del Pilar, Quirino, Bantay, Vigan and Caoayan, said Singson.
In Quezon province, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) suspended sea travel of vessels bound for the northern part of the province after TCWS No. 1 was hoisted over the Polillo Group of Islands, the PCG-Southern Tagalog District announced on its Facebook page on Sunday.
“Vessels who intend to take shelter shall be permitted as long as it is manifested through a written request and no passenger/cargo will be allowed on board,” the PCG added.