- MITCH M. LIPA
Northeast monsoon rains and strong winds damaged several houses and fishing boats in two coastal barangays of Cadiz City, Negros Occidental on Saturday, Jan. 30.
Rene Chua, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, said three houses were damaged in Barangay Zone 6 when strong winds from the northern seaboard slammed several houses in the coastal village.
CDRRMO also received reports that two motor bancas were damaged when strong waves brought by northeast monsoon struck the coastal area of Barangay Banquerohan.
The CDRRMO team and personnel from other departments of the LGU conducted clean-up operations along the sea wall complex as sand from the shoreline covered the barangay road.
Among those who responded was Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr., who was joined by Banquerohan officials.
Dump trucks and payloaders were sent by the City Engineering Office to help clear the roads covered with sand that hampered traffic in the area.
The CDRRMO head added that this has become a normal situation in coastal barangays during northeast monsoon days from the months of December to February.
Cadiz City’s coastline faces the Visayan Sea.
The city government started relocating some families from the coastal areas to the Yolanda resettlement site in Barangay Tinampaan.
But the relocation program was temporarily suspended since last year when the more than 30 unoccupied housing units at St. Andrew’s Park Place was temporarily used as isolation and quarantine facility of the province and the city due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The CDRRMO will submit its report to the City Social Welfare Development Office and the City Agriculture Office so that the two agencies will evaluate the extent of damage and for them to determine the assistance of the LGU to affected residents. – MML
