GABALDON, Nueva Ecija (PNA) – Commuters going to and from this town, as well as Dingalan, Aurora, were stranded for several hours due to flash floods that cascaded rocks and debris that cut portion of the national highway in two adjacent villages here Saturday.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) said that the flash flood rendered the stretch of the highway between barangays Bagting and Calabasa “unpassable to all type of vehicles.”
Village councilor Leopoldo Ordoñez noticed that rocks started to cascade on the pavement of the highway at around 3:00 p.m Saturday less than one hour of heavy rains in the mountainous portion of this municipality.
Peacy, a resident of Dingalan who came all the way from Sampaloc, Manila lamented that her child had run out of potable water due after being stranded for some five hours.
But commuters still had to brave rampaging waters that cross the road.
Ronald Castillo, a town councilor of Dingalan whose family attended the wake of a relative in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija had his tricycle carried by a huge truck as he and his family walked through the water.
At least 38 individuals have been evacuated to Calabasa Elementary School and four families or 20 persons were pre-emptively evacuated to Bagting Elementary School, the PDRRMO said.