76,000 evacuated in Albay as Typhoon Nina moves closer to Bicol

Stranded passengers from Tabaco port are housed temporarily at the Tacabo National High School in Tabaco City, Albay province on December 24, 2016, after their seafaring vessels were prohibited from sailing ahead of typhoon Nock-Ten’s expected arrival.
Philippine authorities began evacuating thousands of people and shut down dozens of ports on December 24 as a strong typhoon threatened to wallop the country’s east coast on Christmas Day. Nock-Ten is expected to be packing winds of between 203-250 kilometres per hour (126-155 miles per hour) when it crosses over Catanduanes, a remote island of 250,000 people in the Bicol region, late Sunday, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. AFP PHOTO

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay—A total of 15,376 families or 76,399 persons were evacuated in Albay as Typhoon “Nina” (international name: Nock-ten) approaches Bicol to make landfall in Catanduanes Sunday afternoon.

Based on data of Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo), there were 6,004 families or 30,020 persons who spent their “Noche Buena” in evacuation centers in Polangui town while 6,669 families or 33,345 persons were evacuated in Pioduran. 50 families or 250 persons in Malinao, 132 families or 661 persons in Legazpi City, 46 families or 199 persons in Manito, 603 families or 3,015 persons in Guinobatan and 1,872 families or 8,909 in Camalig also had to leave their homes as pre-emptive measure against the coming typhoon.

READ: Typhoon ‘Nina’ barrels toward Bicol; storm signals up in 38 areas

Cedric Daep, head of Apsemo said they are targeting at least 40,000 persons to be evacuated due to the threat of flooding, landslide, strong winds and storm surge this Sunday.

READ: Christmas Day exodus

“We cannot accommodate all of these families in schools. Some of them were evacuated in private houses,” he said.