ILOILO City – More than 100 families in Western Visayas were staying at evacuation centers as typhoon Ompong batters Luzon.
A preemptive evacuation covered a total of 149 families (615 individuals), according to the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC).
Among the evacuated families, 45 were from the island province of Guimaras, nine from Antique and 95 from Negros Occidental, stated the RDRRMC record as of 3 p.m. Saturday.
Most of the evacuee families lived in landslide- and/or flood-prone areas.
The initiative intended to keep the evacuees from any weather-related risk, said Director Jose Roberto Nuñez of the Office of Civil Defense Region 6.
The evacuee-families will stay in evacuation centers until Ompong (international name: Mangkhut) leaves the Philippine area of responsibility, the RDRRMC said.
Their respective Provincial or Municipal DRRM Offices will provide them with relief assistance, including food, the council added.
Nuñez said two minor landslides occurred in San Remigio, Antique on Friday.
There was no reported casualty, injury or property damage in the landslides in barangays Cabunga-an and Bugo. Roads were passable, said the OCD-6.
Across the region the RDRRMC has not yet recorded any casualty, injury or damage to public infrastructure amid the rains brought by the southwest monsoon enhanced by Ompong.
“So far wala naman casualties or anything,” Nuñez said.
But he said they also learned about the fisherman who was reported missing in Carles, Iloilo after putting out to sea on Friday. They were looking into it, he said.
Nuñez asked fisherfolk to temporarily suspend any fishing activity until the Philippine Coast Guard advises that it is OK to put out to sea to avoid any untoward incident.
“Huwag pilitin, especially the fisherfolk na nasa area ng Panay, na pumalaot. If they need some food, kailangan or inform lang nila ang MDRRMOs natin,” he said.
Nuñez said they expect the rainy weather to continue until Sunday as Ompong batters northern Luzon and enhances the southwest monsoon.
Ompong was 160 kilometers west northwest of Laoag City, Ilocos Norte as of 4 p.m. Saturday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said in a weather bulletin.
Moving west northwest at 25 kilometers per hour (kph), it had a maximum sustained winds of 160 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 195 kph, the bulletin stated.
No tropical cyclone warning signal has been raised in Visayas and Mindanao.
Under Signal No. 3 were Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Abra, Apayao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Ifugao, and Benguet.
Meanwhile under Signal No. 2 were Batanes, Cagayan including Babuyan Group of Islands, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Pangasinan, Zambales, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Aurora./PN
