- GILBERT BAYORAN
Classes in both public and private schools were suspended Jan. 11 in 27 of the 32 local government units in Negros Occidental, due to the bad weather brought about by a Low Pressure Area and a shear line affecting Visayas.
A landslide was also reported Wednesday in Sitio Panlucasan, Brgy. Cabatangan, Talisay City, where an 8-year old child was injured.
The house of the victim, who is now being treated at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City, was destroyed by the landslide.
The Quick Response Team of the Talisay City government, through its City Social Welfare Development Office, immediately sent hot meals and food packs to the family of five, who are victims of the landslide.
Preemptive evacuations were also reported in low lying areas of Sitio Tan-aw in Brgy. Poblacion, Sagay City, as flood waters started to rise.
Working hours at the Provincial Capitol of Negros Occidental and at Silay City Hall were also shortened, to allow government workers to go home early.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson also placed all disaster risk reduction and management office councils on heightened alert status.
Zeaphard Gerhart Caelian, head of the Provincial Disaster Management Program Division, said that residents in flood-prone areas were advised to take preventive evacuations, if needed.
Caelian attributed the intermittent to moderate, and at times, heavy rains, to the joint effects of the LPA and shear line, as reported by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
Classes were suspended in the highly-urbanized Bacolod City, component cities of Silay, Sagay, Victorias, San Carlos, Talisay, Bago, Kabankalan, La Carlota, Cadiz, Escalante, and Himamaylan, as well as in the municipalities of EB Magalona, Manapla, Murcia, Pontevedra, Valladolid, Calatrava, Pulupandan, Isabela, Cauayan, Ilog, La Castellana, Binalbagan, Hinigaran, Don Salvador Benedicto, and Candoni.
Caelian said the continuous rains for many days have “saturated” or loosened the soil, and he called on Negrenses to be vigilant, particularly against landslide and flooding.
In a memorandum, Gov. Lacson placed Negros Occidental under a blue alert status. He said the LPA and shear line spotted in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur also affect sections of the Visayas and southern Luzon.
It brings continuous rains, possible flooding, and landslides in the province, Lacson said./GB
