Albay to evacuate 670,000 people due to ‘Ruby’
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay—The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Albay has ordered the evacuation of nearly 130,000 families or 670,000 persons in the province starting Saturday morning.
Governor Joey Salceda, PDRRMC chairman, said most of the 128,217 families or 666,728 persons from 720 villages in the three cities and 15 municipalities of the province were vulnerable to flash floods, landslides and lahar flows due to old deposits from Mayon Volcano, storm surges and strong winds.
99 vehicles are waiting to board at Matnog port as supertyphoon #rubyph slows down pic.twitter.com/pA9l5baX5H
— noy morcoso (@dMorcosoINQ) December 5, 2014
Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, said the evacuation that would start at 8 a.m. was expected to be completed before 6 p.m.
Salceda said that based on the council’s data, 26,395 families were vulnerable to lahar flow because they lived close to old deposits of volcanic debris from Mayon.
634 passengers are stranded at Matnog port in Sorsogon pic.twitter.com/nLnPDBIt5C
— noy morcoso (@dMorcosoINQ) December 5, 2014
Eduardo Laguerta, resident volcanologist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said families within six to eight-kilometers of the volcano were vulnerable to erosion and upper level landslides that could be triggered by heavy rainfall.
The state weather bureau said Albay was expected to experience heavy to intense rains due to Typhoon “Ruby.”
RELATED STORIES
‘Ruby’ maintains strength; Signal No. 2 up in 11 areas
‘Ruby’ packs peak winds of 350 kph
