‘Auring’ spares Cebu

CEBU, Philippines —  Thousands of residents in Cebu province were able to go back to their respective homes yesterday after tropical storm Auring weakened and the storm warning signal was lifted.

The Provincial Disaster Risk and Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) recorded 1,260 families or 4,907 individuals evacuated to different identified evacuation centers in some towns and one city.

In Danao City, 92 families or 360 individuals were evacuated; Daanbantayan, 120 families or 460 individuals; Bantayan, 398 families or 1,592 individuals; Tuburan, 287 families or 1,081 individuals; Poro, 81 families or 269 individuals; Madridejos, 166 families or 644 individuals; Sibonga, six families or 21 individuals; San Francisco, 98 families or 392 individuals; and Tudela, 12 families or 48 individuals.

These residents are living in coastal, flood-prone or risky areas.

PDRRMO spokesperson Rhee Telen Jr. said over 500 persons, including drivers and crew of rolling cargoes, were allowed to travel yesterday after the Philippine Coast Guard lifted the suspension of sea trips to some parts of the Visayas.

The PDRRMO recorded zero major damages to households or infrastructures in the province. No casualties were reported.

The alert status in the province was also downgraded from red to blue yesterday.

Sea trips resume

Around 96 stranded passengers were able to leave in the ports of Hagnaya and Danao yesterday.

Since Friday, travels of all types of vessels or watercrafts were temporarily suspended as precautionary measure to prevent maritime accidents.

The Coast Guard Station in Hagnaya reported that 61 individuals were able to leave the port bound for Bantayan Island yesterday morning.

Rolan Reyes, head of Danao City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, also disclosed that around 35 individuals were able to leave the port of Danao for Camotes yesterday afternoon.

Reyes said these stranded passengers had been temporarily housed in a school in the city since Friday and provided their needs, including food, by the local government unit.

"Duna pod tay mga NGOs (non-government organizations) nga ningtabang pod. Organized naman na daan nato diri sa city, so naghatag or nag-provide sad sila og snacks,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard Station in Central Cebu also lifted the temporary suspension of travel in the seaboards of Mindanao, Central Visayas and Western Visayas including province of Leyte.

However, sea travels bound for Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte and Southern Leyte remained suspended as of yesterday due to the gale warning issued by PAG-ASA affecting the eastern seaboard of Visayas.

Just rains in Cebu City

As of Saturday, Feb. 20, a total of 70 stranded passengers in the port of Cebu City were temporarily sheltered at the gym in Barangay San Roque.

Ramil Ayuman, head of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), said all of them were provided with three meals a day until they are allowed to travel.

Despite the rains on Sunday night, no untoward incidents were reported in Cebu City.

Ayuman said no landslides were reported apart from the case of a fallen tree in Sitio Lupa in Barangay Sapangdaku, which was immediately addressed after less than an hour on Sunday.

Ayuman said personnel from CCDRRMO, Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW), Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO), Parks and Playgrounds Commission, as well as a mobile patrol group, were already deployed on Feb. 19 in preparation for the weather disturbance.

CCDRRMO deployed the emergency personnel and rescue vehicles to different parts of the city Friday evening.

Equipment like backhoes were strategically stationed in mountain barangays for immediate response in case a landslide occurs in prone areas.  — Mae Fhel K. Gom-os, and Mary Ruth R. Malinao, JMD (FREEMAN)