EVACUATION. Policemen in Mapanas, Northern Samar assist residents during evacuation. At least 36,368 persons were displaced when Typhoon Tisoy crossed the Eastern Visayas region on Monday (Dec. 2, 2019), the Regional Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council reported. (Photo courtesy of Mapanas police station)
TACLOBAN CITY -- At least 36,368 persons were displaced when Typhoon Tisoy crossed the Eastern Visayas region on Monday, the Regional Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council (RDRRMC) reported.
Of the total number of persons evacuated to higher grounds, 18,895 were in Eastern Samar province; 9,462 in Northern Samar; 5,675 in Samar; 1,484 in Leyte; and 1,122 in Biliran.
Local government units ordered a preemptive or forced evacuation of residents in low-lying communities and landslide-prone communities, heeding the directive of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional office issued late Monday afternoon.
Some 1,690 policemen have been deployed to assist the evacuation of residents in six provinces.
The typhoon has damaged power transmission lines resulting in widespread power outages in the provinces of Samar, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar on Monday when the three provinces were placed under tropical cyclone warning Signal No. 3.
Power interruption was extended until Tuesday in Northern Samar.
Flooding has affected several areas in Northern Samar, the province closest to Sorsogon, the center of the typhoon.
Tisoy made landfall at 11 p.m. on Monday in Gubat, Sorsogon.
Flooding has been reported in Lapinig and Mapanas in Northern Samar; Arteche, Dolores, and Taft in Eastern Samar; and Tarangnan in Samar province.
Rough seas halted sea travel in Eastern Visayas ports, stranding 2,124 passengers in several ports of Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, and Southern Leyte.
Meanwhile, authorities rescued a fisherman from San Francisco, Southern Leyte after his motorized fishing boat capsized Monday morning off the coast of Balite village, San Francisco, Surigao del Norte.
Initial reports reaching the Philippine National Police regional office here, at least 15 fishermen on board six fishing boats remain missing after they left Homonhon Island, Guiuan, Eastern Samar Sunday dawn.
The RDRRMC is still consolidating reports on casualties and missing persons from local government units as of Tuesday noon. (PNA)
