SAFER GROUNDS. Evacuees due to Typhoon Rosita are now temporarily staying at the Dilasag Municipal Hall in Dilasag town, Aurora province. (Photo by Jason de Asis)
BALER, Aurora -- Thousands of residents sought safer grounds on Tuesday as Typhoon Rosita battered this province with torrential rains and strong winds.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), headed by engineer Elson Amado A. Egargue, reported that a total of 3,155 families or 9,899 individuals have fled their homes.
“Some of them were preemptively evacuated while others by force as Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 3 is up in northern Aurora, and Signal No. 2 in central and southern Aurora,” he said.
Egargue, in his report to Acting Governor Rommel Rico T. Angara, said the highest number of evacuees was in Dilasag town - 1,294 families or 3,255 individuals.
This was followed by Casiguran town with 1,125 families or 3,724 villagers, Dinalungan town with 330 families or 1,648 persons, and Dingalan town with 249 families or 893 individuals.
The town of Dipaculao reported that 62 families or 124 villagers were brought to evacuation centers.
Dinalungan, Casiguran, and Dilasag, in the northern part of Aurora, were placed under Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 3.
In Baler, the capital town of Aurora, 55 families or 255 individuals are staying in designated evacuation centers.
Egargue said there was no reported evacuee from the towns of San Luis and Maria Aurora.
The PDRRMO head added that relief goods have already been distributed to the evacuation centers.
Meanwhile, roads in northern Aurora are now passable following the clearing operations conducted by the Sinagtala troopers of the Philippine Army’s 91st Infantry Battalion, led by Lt. Col. Jose Mari Torrenueva II, and personnel of the Philippine National Police.
On the other hand, power remains on and off in the province. (PNA)
