1 killed, hundreds displaced in Visayas due to ‘Ramon’

CEBU City, Philippines—While Tropical Storm “Ramon” weakened into a tropical depression, the rains it brought still resulted in landslides and flooding displacing hundreds in some areas in the Visayas, authorities said Wednesday.

One person died in Cordova, Cebu, Tuesday evening; another was injured in Ivisan, Capiz, Wednesday morning; and a 13-year-old boy went missing in Bacolod City Wednesday afternoon.

The fatality, identified as Bienvenido Cañete, was walking along a narrow alley in Sitio (settlement) Camonilas, Barangay (village) Poblacion, Cordova, when he touched an iron fence that was in contact with a leaning electric post.

Cañete was pronounced dead at 7:10 p.m. by Cordova municipal health officer Christopher Calimbas, who responded to the alarm.

In Ivisan town, a fisherman was reported in serious condition after being struck by lightning Wednesday morning in Barangay Balaring while he was about to gather his fishing nets. Chorel Apaitan, 25, is currently confined at Roxas Memorial Provincial Hospital due to third degree burns on the left side of his body.

In Bacolod City, 13-year-old boy Louie Mañague fell into the Mandalagan River in Bacolod City while playing with friends shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday. A search for Mañague was ongoing, his grandmother Margie Barlita said.

The rains brought by Ramon on Tuesday also resulted in flooding that damaged almost 300 houses in Madridejos town on Bantayan Island, Cebu, and affected six barangays in Bantayan town.

In Mandaue City, Cebu, the city government conducted a preemptive evacuation of 70 families in Barangay Subangdaku and 15 others in Banilad as floodwaters started to rise.

In Maasin City, more than 60 families living along Canturing river and coastal areas in Mambajao and Canturing villages were evacuated at the height of a storm surge that hit the city at around 7 p.m. Tuesday.

A river in Barangay Lambinao in Malitbog town, Southern Leyte, overflowed and caused the damage to a bridge located at the village.

The Office of Civil Defense Region 8 said there were landslides in barangays Pancho Villa and Ulisihan, both in Sogod town, Southern Leyte, Tuesday evening that blocked part of the Maharlika Highway.

However, engineer Alan Eway, maintenance chief of Southern Leyte Engineering District, said the road was made passable around 9 a.m. Wednesday.

There were also 351 passengers and 40 rolling cargoes bound for Lipata in Surigao City in Mindanao who were stranded in Liloan and Benit ferry terminals in Southern Leyte, Petty Officer 2 Rumulo Alob of the Maasin Coast Guard station said.

Alob said on Wednesday afternoon that they had yet to receive an order to allow the ships to leave port.

In Northern Samar, Mayor Rod Laurean Suan of Allen said that 367 passengers on board seven buses and 35 trucks were stranded in Looc and Dapdap ports, both in Allen town. The stranded passengers were all bound for Luzon but were prohibited to leave the ports by the Coast Guard due to the tropical storm.

In Western Visayas, ferryboats plying between Iloilo and Guimaras Island and from Caticlan to Boracay Island in Aklan continued their trips but were limited only until late afternoon Tuesday and with reduced numbers of passengers.

Several tourists going to and coming from Boracay Island were stranded Tuesday evening because night trips were suspended, Lieutenant Commander Terence Alsosa, commander of the Coast Guard station in Malay town, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Three persons on board a fishing boat who went missing in Malay on Tuesday were rescued in Roxas City in Capiz, according to Alsosa.

Several low-lying areas on Boracay Island experienced floods up to the knees of an average person due to heavy rains, said Superintendent Samuel Nacion, chief of the Boracay Special Tourist Police Office. (Reports from Jani Arnaiz, Nestor Burgos Jr., Jhunnex Napallacan, Rachel Arnaiz, Joey Gabieta, Felipe Celino and Carla Gomez)