CALAPAN, Oriental Mindoro – Only 14 families in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro who were evacuated due to sudden flood are still sheltered in an evacuation center as of Thursday evening, according to municipal authorities.
The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO) reported that a total of 73 families were preemptively evacuated Wednesday evening after torrential rains brought knee-high floods to Barangays Claudio Salgado and Tagumpay.
In an interview, Mark Jayson Tarinay, operation and warning staff officer at the MDRRMO, said those still seeking refuge in a converted daycare center were residents of Sitio Pandan in Barangay Claudio Salgado.
All 24 families from Barangay Tagumpay, who sought shelter in their barangay hall, had already home after waters subsided on Thursday, he added.
Tarinay said the preemptive evacuation was jointly carried out by the municipal government, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine National Police and Philippine Coast Guard.
It was explained that the residents of the two villages were asked to leave their homes temporarily because there was a chance that the flood waters could further rise to life-threatening levels.
Both Claudio Salgado and Tagumpay are coastal barangays directly facing the West Philippine Sea, Tarinay said.
The municipality of Sablayan is still recovering after being placed under state of calamity due to Typhoon Egay. (PNA)
