TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines- Two people died as Cagayan province suffered flooding and landslide due to heavy rains brought by the convergence of the Northeast Monsoon and the tail-end of a cold front.
In a phone interview on Tuesday, November 7, Santa Ana town disaster management chief Mario Miranda identified the fatalities as Albert Ravelo, 47, and Richard Perez, 23.
Miranda said both Ravelo and Perez died after being buried in a landslide.
Ravelo, a resident of Barangay (village) Tangatan, was buried when a part of a hill turned into mudslide and buried his house.
Perez’s body, meanwhile, have yet to be retrieved after being buried as he was checking on his coal production.
Miranda said they are presuming that Perez already died since he was last seen in the area before it corroded.
“We are having difficulties in retrieving Perez’s body because the landslide in the area is thick,” Miranda told Rappler.
He added that some villages remain isolated as landslides in the road going to famous Anguib Beach have yet to be cleared.
28,000 affected
Meanwhile, the Cagayan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) reported that 28,000 individuals were affected by floods and landslides.
In his latest report, PDRRMC Cagayan chief Bonifacio Cuarteros said most of the affected individuals came from Peñablanca town. A total of 22,265 people have been affected in said towns.
Cuarteros added that 1,941 people have been evacuated, most of whom are from the low-lying areas of Tuguegarao City.
He said 14 overflow bridges and roads remain impassable due swollen rivers and landslides.
Cuarteros said the province government is still under red alert as the water level of Cagayan River continues to rise.
As of 4 pm on Monday, the Project Noah monitoring of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) reported that the Cagayan River’s water level in Buntun Bridge has reached 10.28 meters.
The water level grew up to 7 meters over the past 3 days , Cuarteros said, although noting that they have observed “slow rise.”
“It means it didn’t reach its peak (highest water level) yet, but we have observed the rise is slowing,” Cuarteros said in a mix of Filipino and English.
Classes in all levels on Monday and Tuesday, November 7 have been suspended as precautionary measures. Northernforum.net
