WRATH OF 'QUINTA'. Hundreds of residents in Negros Oriental, particularly in the southern portion, were affected by heavy rains and flooding due to Typhoon Quinta. The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) reported on Monday (Oct. 26, 2020) that a person died in a flash flood in Siaton town while some 200 were evacuated to safer grounds. (Photo courtesy of Basay DRRMO via PDRRMO)
DUMAGUETE CITY – A villager died while hundreds of people were rescued, evacuated, and displaced in some areas in Negros Oriental since Sunday as Typhoon Quinta (international name Molave) cut across the Philippines, inundating places and causing flooding and landslides in certain areas.
Adrian Sedillo, Negros Oriental Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head, in an interview Monday afternoon said while Negros Oriental was outside of the path of Quinta, the typhoon’s rain cloud bandwidth measured around 500 kilometers in radius.
Citing reports from weather experts, Sedillo said they were warned that the trough of the typhoon would bring rains in a west-southwest direction, the reason most of the southern parts of Negros Oriental reported flooding on Sunday.
A person was reported dead after crossing a river in Siaton and was caught in a flash flood.
An initial situation report issued by PDRRMO Sunday evening showed that Sta. Catalina town, Bayawan City, and Basay in the south were affected by heavy rains and flooding.
Reports received from DRRMO offices showed that in Sta. Catalina, a total of 41 individuals, including 20 children and five senior citizens, were evacuated.
Bayawan City initially reported 60 individuals evacuated to the Barangay Banga Elementary School; 28 to the Barangay Banga Barangay Hall; 30 to the Poblacion Barangay Hall; 13 to the Barangay Villareal Barangay gymnasium; five to the Bayawan National High School; and 24 individuals to the Villareal Barangay Hall.
Basay town also reported four individuals evacuated from homes but opted to stay with relatives while ongoing response was being carried out at the time of the report.
Sedillo said the numbers would increase as more reports are coming in from the different DRRMO operations centers.
He said that some families may have already returned to their homes since the floodwaters had already subsided.
Meanwhile, Gov. Roel Degamo ordered the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office to deploy social workers to the affected areas for relief and rehabilitation purposes, Sedillo said. (PNA)
