60 Army trucks, rubber boats set for rescue in Albay due to storm Chedeng
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay, Philippines—Disaster management authorities here have pre-positioned at least 30 Army trucks and deployed 30 rubber boats to 15 towns and three cities across Albay to help low-lying villages in the province cope with floods and landslides as tropical storm Chedeng approaches Bicol Tuesday morning.
Governor Joey Salceda, head of the Albay Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), said on Monday he has activated on a 24-hour basis all city and town risk-reduction bodies in the province.
He said the PDRRMO has been on heightened alert and has been ordered to monitor, round the clock, advisories from the local weather station and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Bicol.
The governor said the PDRRMO would be ready to evacuate 15,000 people in flood- and landslide-prone areas at the first signs of danger.
The disaster bodies, especially at the barangay (village) level, should take appropriate measures to promptly warn residents of the impending tropical storm that could bring heavy rainfall, floods and landslides in low-lying areas, he added.
In a briefing Monday, Landrico Dalida of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said Chedeng had entered the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) and was located 795 kilometers east of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, with maximum winds of 95 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 120 kph.
Moving west northwest with a speed of 15 kph and 500 km in diameter at the center, Chedeng is expected to hover at the Bicol Region on Wednesday and Thursday, and bring moderate to heavy rains in the entire region.
Dalida said the intensity of Chedeng was similar to that of typhoon Bebeng that hit Bicol last May 7 with heavy rains that triggered floods and landslides in the provinces of Sorsogon, Albay, Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte.
Salceda said the PDRRMO expected Chedeng to be stronger than Bebeng, which was detected as a mild low pressure area (LPA) before it slammed Bicol, while Chedeng would be coming in as “full-grown tropical storm, possibly category 2.”
He said there was too much public fixation on landfall like in the case of Bebeng, which was a storm and not even a typhoon but left 35 dead and devastated Bicol by destroying P1.5 billion worth of crops and properties.
He added that from countless experiences, the LPAs, tropical depressions, and intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) were actually killing more people more than the typhoons.
“The ITCZ last December killed three even if there was no wind. Bebeng did not make a landfall but it killed 35,” Salceda said in Filipino.
He said the probability of floods and flashfloods would be higher with the coming of Chedeng especially since floodwaters spawned by Bebeng in the towns of Bato, Baao and Milaor in Camarines Sur have not yet subsided.
Expected to be hit by flooding and landslides are the towns of Tiwi, Sto. Domingo, Rapu-rapu, Malinao, Manito, Pio Duran, Jovellar, Oas, Polangui, Libon and Legazpi City.
After Bebeng, Albay’s land mass was saturated with rains with the cumulative rainfall reaching 301 mm as of May 16 compared with normal levels of 130 mm.
The Bicol Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (RDRRMO), meanwhile, directed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Army, Navy and Air Force) Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection and Philippine Coast Guard to put all their disaster response units on standby alert.
Raffy Alejandro, head of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Bicol and RDRRMO chairman, also requested the NDRRMO to pre-position appropriate aircraft from the AFP for immediate use of the RDRRMO for impact and risk assessment and possibly for sea and air rescue operation.
According to Brig. Gen. Marlou Salazar, deputy commanding officer of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division, the division has 150 Army trucks on standby for relief, evacuation or rescue operations.
He has also reactivated Task Force Sagip in the three brigade commands in Bicol to assist in the evacuation, search and retrieval and relief operations.
