TACLOBAN City – Hundreds of houses are still submerged in water, while some roads are still not passable after Tropical Depression Samuel made its landfall in Borongan, Eastern Samar at around 2:00 on Wednesday (November 21).
A total of 1,872 families have evacuated in Sulat, San Policarpio, Llorente, Can-avid and Guiuan, Eastern Samar, said Ma. Josefina Titong, Eastern Samar Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Officer.
Landslides were reported in Hagonoy Soong, Llorente and Brgy. Binaloan, Taft, Eastern Samar causing some areas going to Tacloban City to be unpassable to vehicles. A road slip incident also occurred in Brgy. San Pablo, Taft town, causing two houses to fall to the river.
Some areas of the province have also experienced electricity shutdown and signal interruption due to incessant rains and flooding.
“We have prepositioned food and non-food items in our evacuation centers, our rescue operations for families living in flooded areas are still ongoing, Titong said.
Arteche, Eastern Samar mayor Roland Evardone said that as of Wednesday morning, 9 of their riverside barangays are still flooded wth 1,130 families affected.
“We have deployed rescue and assessment teams to update us on the situation and extent of damages. Fortunately, no casualties have been reported,” he shared.
According to the Philippine Coastguard Eastern Visayas Acting Commander Giovanni Bergantin, a total of 907 passengers, 11 vessels and 258 rolling cargoes were stranded in six ports, while 11 vessels took shelter in the region as of 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Operations of all ports resumed 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
Classes in all levels and work in government offices in Tacloban City remain suspended since the Office of Civil Defense have raised red alert status in the region on Tuesday, while some areas in Leyte, Samar, Biliran provinces have also declared suspension of classes and work in government offices. (Marie Tonette Grace Marticio)
