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[av_heading heading=’‘Urduja’ displaces over 400 families’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO and CAROLYN JANE ABELLO
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ILOILO City – Trips of roll on, roll off (roro) vessels from Iloilo to Bacolod City and vice versa resumed around 5 p.m. yesterday after these were suspended on Saturday due to tropical storm “Urduja.”
But the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) reported 496 families (or 2,190 individuals) displaced in Panay Island due to heavy rains and flooding since Saturday.
According to RDRRMC chairperson Jose Roberto Nuñez yesterday afternoon, 256 of the displaced families sought shelter in evacuation centers (236 families in Capiz and 20 in Tambaliza Island, Concepcion, Iloilo).
The total families affected in Capiz as of yesterday afternoon reached 295; 174 in Concepcion, Iloilo; and 27 in Aklan.
According to Nuñez, the Capiz towns of Dumalag, Sigma, Maayon, and Panay and Roxas City got flooded.
But all national and provincial roads and bridges in the region were “normal and passable,” he stressed.
Local disaster councils of the affected areas were attending to the needs of the families, said Nuñez.
As of this writing, there were no reported casualties due to “Urduja.”
While roro trips resumed late afternoon yesterday, however, other seagoing vessels remained grounded by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Aklan, Capiz, northern Antique, northern Iloilo, and Negros Occidental.
A total of 1,524 passengers were stranded in seaports (Caticlan Jetty Port in Malay, Aklan; Libertad wharf in Antique; RDL Wharf; Fort San Pedro in Iloilo City and Lapuz wharf, also in Iloilo City; and Dumangas, Iloilo seaport), according to PCG-Iloilo commander Lieutenant Ramil Palabrica.
The trips of motorboats plying the Guimaras-Iloilo City route were allowed to go on but their capacity was reduced to 75 percent.
Around 87 trucks and 30 motorcycles bound for Bacolod City and Ngeros Occidental had been stuck at the seaport in Dumangas, Iloilo since Friday last week.
“We have no choice but to hold them back. It was not safe to travel by roro then,” said Palabrica.
Yesterday morning, the Department of Social Welfare and Development provided 40 family food packs to 108 stranded passengers at the Fort San Pedro terminal, said Palabrica.
PCG also cooked food at its office beside the terminal and served this to passengers during lunchtime.
Yesterday afternoon, “Urduja” slightly changed its course and was headed towards Aklan, state weather agency Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said. It was expected to pass by Boracay Island last night.
“Urduja” was moving west southwest at 15 kph. It had a maximum sustained winds of 55 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 80 kph.
Tropical cyclone warning signal (TCWS) No. 1 was raised over the southern part of Mindoro, Romblon, and Palawan, Aklan, Antique, and Capiz.
Pagasa said sea travel was not advised over the seaboards of areas under TCWS No. 1.
Scattered to widespread rains would continue over the southern part of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan, Aklan, Capiz, and Antique, according to Pagasa.
But eventually, it said, rains over the Visayas would fizzle out. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency)/PN
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