Thousands flee Albay flooding

LEGAZPI CITY—At least 6,000 families in the town of Polangui, Albay, have started to move to higher grounds on Thursday as floods started to invade homes amid relentless rains spawned by Typhoon “Mina.”

Polangui Mayor Cherry Sampal said at least four riverside villages and part of the town proper were waist-deep in floodwater as of noon Thursday.

The mayor said she ordered the indefinite suspension of classes in flooded public schools in the villages of Balangibang, Quinali, Alomon and Magurang even as residents and volunteers continued to pile sandbags to protect communities from overflowing waterways.

In Oas, Mayor Greg Ricarte said volunteers and residents have also been working overtime to pile sandbags in damaged dikes and river control structures.

“We are on standby and all (disaster councils) are coordinating due to heavy rains,” Ricarte said.

Special needs

The villages most vulnerable, he said, are Ilaor Sur, Ilaor Norte and Mayaw, which are along the Kabilugan River.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda has given the go signal for towns to decide for themselves when to evacuate residents or suspend classes.

The governor directed all local disaster officials to pay special attention to the needs of the elderly and children, who are at most risk during disasters.

Albay is not under any typhoon signal but heavy rains spawned by Mina across the Bicol region and many parts of Southern Luzon have resulted in flash floods, according to Cedric Daep of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo).

Now a typhoon

Mina has intensified into a typhoon, according to the weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

Pagasa raised storm signal No. 2 over Isabela, Cagayan and Northern Aurora past 5 p.m. yesterday.

Signal No. 1 was raised over the rest of Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Viscaya, Quirino, Ifugao, Mt. Province, Kalinga, Apayao, Calayan, Babuyan and Batanes Group of Islands.

As of 4 p.m. yesterday, Mina was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 170 kph. Its eye was spotted 260 km east of Casiguran, Aurora.

Moving west northwest at 7 kph, Mina is expected to be 150 kilometers northeast of Casiguran, Aurora, this afternoon.

Negros floods

In Negros Occidental, at least 1,300 residents had to be evacuated from floods from the overflowing Binalbagan River.

The floods hit the towns of Moises Padilla, Binalbagan and Isabela. At least six houses were destroyed and nine others suffered damages in Moises Padilla town, according to the town mayor, Francisco Nazareno, yesterday.

Residents of a village next to the flooded area were cut off from the rest of the town after a hanging bridge was destroyed by the flooding, the mayor said.

Water overflowing from the river brought floods to the villages of Bagroy, San Jose and Marina, forcing more than 1,000 residents to evacuate starting Wednesday, according to officials in the villages.

The rains also brought floods to Barangay Nalipay in Isabela town, rendering roads impassable and forcing families to evacuate.

Crops were damaged and farm animals had to be abandoned as floods swept through more villages starting Thursday morning. Rey Nasol, Inquirer Southern Luzon with Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas and TJ Burgonio in Manila