‘Habagat’: Girl drowns, hundreds are stranded
WAVES destroy houses made of light materials in coastal areas in Talisay City, Cebu. LITO TECSON/CEBU DAILY NEWS
A 15-year-old girl drowned in a river in Calauan, Laguna, while landslides were reported in Laguna and Rizal provinces due to heavy rain.
In the Visayan cities of Tagbilaran and Cebu, hundreds of passengers were stranded as authorities stopped sea vessels from sailing as a precaution.
Marian Riah Arcedo, 15, of Barangay Masiit, Calauan, was declared dead on arrival in a hospital in the neighboring town of Bay after being swept by strong river current.
In San Pedro City, 12 families were forced to leave their homes when a portion of a riprap wall that protected their homes against river current collapsed.
In Rodriguez, Rizal province, five families living in a National Housing Authority resettlement site were also evacuated after a riprap wall collapsed at the height of heavy downpour on Thursday.
In Cebu and Tagbilaran, 34 vessels were prevented from sailing, keeping their passengers stranded at port.
Hundreds of passengers heading for Cebu, Siquijor and Dumaguete City had their tickets refunded.
The Coast Guard in Cebu and Bohol provinces suspended sea travel of vessels below 250 gross tonnage after the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) issued a gale warning on Thursday.
Romeo Aguirre, Pagasa Mactan weather specialist, said the gale warning was an offshoot of the enhanced southwest monsoon, or habagat, due to Typhoon “Falcon” (international name: Chanhom).
Gale-force winds may reach 52 kilometers per hour and endanger small vessels, according to the Pagasa bulletin.
“Fishing boat and other small seacraft are advised not to venture out into the sea while large sea vessels are alerted against big waves,” said the Pagasa bulletin. “Strong to gale-force wind is expected to affect the seaboards of Luzon and the Visayas,” it said. Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon and Jhunnex Napallacan and Leo Udtohan, Inquirer Visayas
