Rains trigger landslide in Iloilo

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—Days of heavy rains triggered a landslide in the municipality of Alimodian in Iloilo, burying around 20 hectares of agricultural land, according to a report of the Office of Civil Defense in Western Visayas.

No casualties were reported in the landslide that struck the village of Barangay Dao in the hinterlands of Alimodian, about 26 kilometers northwest of here, at dawn on July 29.

The provincial and municipal disaster offices reported that a house and three temporary shelters were destroyed by the landslide. A family was evacuated.

Sherwin Bering, Alimodian municipal disaster risk reduction and management officer, described the landslide area as riceland with newly planted and fully grown crops.

Bering said  the value of damaged crops in the area, which is around 25 km from the town proper, has yet to be determined.

He said they would wait for a day or two for the situation to stabilize before they could come up with an estimate on the damage.

The province of Iloilo was among the areas affected by continuous heavy rains for the past several days due to a low pressure area that has intensified the southwest monsoon rains.