Some 38,675 families were displaced by floods that hit at least seven towns and cities in northern Negros on Jan. 8 and 9.
A report of the Provincial Disaster Management Program Division released yesterday afternoon showed that the massive floods, the second in only a week, affected 16,886 families in 16 barangays in Silay City as well as 12,567 families in 21 barangays in Victorias City; and 3,933 families in 20 barangays in Talisay City.
Also affected were 3,339 families in 10 barangays in E.B. Magalona; 1,551 families in seven barangays in Sagay City; 384 families in also seven barangays in Cadiz City; and 15 families in one barangay in Escalante City.
One village in Manapla was also flooded, but the town did not have evacuees.
According to the report, some 48.17 percent of Silay’s population was affected by the flood. This translates to 16,886 families or 57,029 individuals whose homes were flooded by Saturday evening.
Silay was placed under a state of calamity by the Sangguniang Panlungsod yesterday.
Also, 1,162 houses in four cities were either damaged or destroyed by the floods.
The affected houses were located in Talisay, Silay, Victorias, Cadiz and Escalante, where many areas went under water following hours of moderate to heavy rains last weekend.
In Talisay, floods in 13 barangays struck 329 houses, including 49 destroyed and 280 damaged.
In Silay, some 729 houses were affected in 16 barangays, of which 51 were destroyed and 678 damaged.
In Victorias, 17 houses were destroyed while 79 others were damaged located in 17 barangays.
In Cadiz, four areas were flooded, resulting in one destroyed house and five others damaged while in Escalante, two houses were destroyed.
About 14 roads and bridges, as well as a flood control project, in Silay, Talisay and Cadiz, were either destroyed or damaged.
The floods triggered by rains that started on Friday night also left two persons dead each in Talisay and Silay.
On New Year’s Day, the flash floods also hit the same localities and claimed the life of a resident of Victorias, destroyed and damaged hundreds of houses, and displaced some 15,000 families.
The respective councils of Talisay and Victorias already declared a state of calamity in their cities last week. – NLG
