- GILBERT BAYORAN
Classes in all levels have been suspended in two cities and one town of Negros Occidental due to Tropical Depression “Paeng”.
La Carlota Mayor Rex Jalando-on ordered the suspension of classes in all levels, at all public and private schools in the City, starting Oct. 27 until lifted, due to the Orange Rainfall Warning or intense rain brought by TD Paeng.
Moises Padilla Mayor Ella Celestina Garcia Yulo also suspended classes in public and private schools effective noon of Oct. 26 to Oct. 28, or until lifted, due to the weather disturbance.
“Paeng” brought moderate to heavy rains, and some areas of Moises Padilla have been flooded.
The Emergency Operations Center of San Carlos City, meanwhile, raised a Unified Alert Level 3, or Code Red, due to high risk of flooding caused by the heavy downpour, and worsened by the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone.
In a memorandum dated Oct. 26, San Carlos City Schools Division superintendent Lorlinie Ortillo said that in case of natural disaster, power outages or interruptions, and other calamities, online classes and work in kindergarten to Grade 12 and Alternative Learning System are automatically cancelled in schools situated in local government units issued with Orange and Red rainfall warnings by PAGASA.
A landslide also took place Tuesday night along the upper portion of the San Carlos City Eco-trans-link highway in Negros Occidental.
While no one was hurt in the landslide, debris blocked the highway that links San Carlos City to the towns of Don Salvador Benedicto and Murcia, and Bacolod City, Provincial Disaster Management Program Division chief Zeaphard Gerhart Caelian said.
Several buses were reported to have been stuck for almost 30 minutes, while the affected areas were being cleared of boulders.
“Paeng” is not expected to directly hit the Visayas since it will instead curve northwards to Luzon, the weather bureau said./GB
