Thousands flee ‘Chedeng’

Critical hours

“The critical hours will be in the evening of Saturday,” said Office of Civil Defense Administrator Alexander Pama. “We need to double up the preparations because it is harder to move around in the dark.”

Although Chedeng had weakened, Pama said it would still bring moderate to heavy rains when it hit land early Sunday.

“We’re not saying Chedeng no longer poses danger. It could still cause destruction,” he said.

Interior Undersecretary Austere Panadero said the storm could affect 33 cities and close to 500 towns in more than two dozen provinces. Preemptive evacuations have been ordered in communities prone to flash floods and landslides, Panadero said.

Mayor Nelianto Bihasa of Baler, capital of Aurora province, on Friday ordered all tourists in resorts to leave or face forced evacuation. He also told resort owners to advise guests headed to Baler to postpone trips.

READ: Tourists ordered to evacuate Baler due to threat of ‘Chedeng’

Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, in a command conference on Saturday directed troops in Aurora and Isabela to prepare to act as first responders.

“Along with other government agencies, our troops have also identified areas prone to landslides and flooding, including those that are close to the coastlines and are at risk for possible storm surges,” Catapang said.

“Let us give equal attention to tourists, both local and foreigners who are vacationing in these areas and who may be trapped in beach resorts,” he said.

In Aurora, around 700 of 7,000 tourists opted to stay in Baler, enabling authorities to focus more on the preemptive evacuation of coastal communities, Mayor Nelianto Bihasa said on Saturday.

He said he expected hotels, transient homes and restaurants in Baler to lose money because visitors canceled reservations or cut short their stay. “It’s better to be safe,” he added.

At noon Saturday, tourists who spent the Lenten break in Baguio City lined up at bus terminals for their trips back to Metro Manila, interior Cordillera or to other provinces in northern and central Luzon.

Authorities and local governments were rushing to evacuate coastal areas of Camarines Sur in anticipation of storm surges, said Che Bermeo, head of the Environment Disaster Management and Emergency Response Office. The office was focusing on the coastal villages in the towns of Garchitorena, Caramoan, Presentacion, Siruma and Balatan.