Almost 500 Masbate residents evacuate due to flooding

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

LEGAZPI CITY — The number of evacuees in Masbate rose to about 500 on Tuesday, Nov. 21, due to flooding triggered by continuous rains brought by a shear line.

Gremil Alexis Naz, Office of Civil Defense Bicol spokesperson, said authorities started to evacuate on Monday 489 persons in 10 villages in Dimasalang, San Pascual, and Uson towns.

Naz said flooding was also reported in Masbate City and Mobo town.

Heavy rains also damaged a spillway connecting the villages of Nabangig and Mabini in Palanas town, while a hanging bridge was impassable in Cataingan town due to the swelling of a river.

Adonis Dilao, chief of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said they were expecting more evacuees from the villages of Magsaysay and Buenavista in Uson town as the floodwaters continued to rise due to heavy rains.

On Monday, the floodwaters from the swelling river submerged almost seven sub-villages in Magsaysay, also affecting some parts of its neighboring areas.

“Based on the weather forecast, the rain will continue for up to six hours, we are expecting that the number of evacuees will increase this afternoon, so we are still monitoring it,” Dilao said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Dilao said the province was also experiencing heavy rains because its neighboring provinces, Northern Samar and Sorsogon, were under red rainfall warning as of 8 a.m. on Tuesday.

Classes at all levels in Masbate were still suspended on Tuesday, while in Sorsogon, the classes in kindergarten to senior high school were also suspended.

In Albay, Gov. Edcel Greco Lagman said in an advisory that classes at all levels were still suspended in public and private schools due to continuous heavy rains expected until Wednesday.

Camarines Sur Gov. Vincenzo Renato Luigi Villafuerte said in a memorandum that only the classes in coastal areas would remain suspended, especially in schools with students who need to cross rivers and spillways.

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