Hundreds evacuated, most roads closed

POWERFUL ‘‘Mina’’ battered the northern tip of the Philippines, bringing heavy rains and causing landslides that left at least four people dead or missing.

The strongest storm to hit the country this year made landfall in Gonzaga, Cagayan early yesterday, closing roads and causing a power shutdown not only in Cagayan which was under storm signal number 4 but in the provinces of Abra and Ifugao. Officials feared the typhoon would cause more floods because it was moving slowly.

Two children were killed in a landslide in San Fabian, Pangasinan while two fishermen went missing, regional officials reported. The two young victims were the children of Rolly Bautista whose house was buried in the landslide.

More landslides are expected as heavy rains fall on mountainous areas, warned Major Rey Balido of the government monitoring center.

“For the past three days, it has been raining so the soil has been saturated and there will be landslides,” he said. “There will be more floods also because the typhoon has been almost stationary so the rains just keep falling. It will take a longer time to traverse the area and will be more devastating.”

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council  said mandatory evacuation in some areas in Cagayan started as early as Friday, but evacuation efforts were in full blast Saturday morning.

Areas where families were forcibly evacuated include the towns of Sta. Ana, San Vicente, Buguey, Aparri, Sta. Praxedes, Ballesteros, Sanchez Mira, Lallo, Camalaniugan, Gonzaga.

Many roads were washed out and remain unpassable to all types of vehicles. These include the Dimaluadi, Dinapigue, Cabagan-Sto. Tomas bridge, and Sta. Maria Cabagan, Alicaocao bridge in Cauayan In Isabela, Tawi bridge in Penablanca, Bagunot bridge and Abusag bridge in Baggao, Cagayan. The Benguet-Kennon road was also closed, as well as the Agoo MacArthur Highway and Ilocos Norte- Panzilan to Adams Road in Ilocos-Pangasinan region.

The typhoon also cancelled 15 domestic flights to Tuguegarao, Laoag, Busuanga and Basco, Batanes.  

Packing gusts of about 230 kilometers per hour, “Mina” was moving at only nine kilometers an hour, the weather bureau said. This means the typhoon will remain near the northern edge of Luzon until today, bringing rain and winds over a wide area. The storm is expected to move northwards and will be off the eastern coast of Taiwan by Monday.

Malacañang appealed to residents in low-lying areas to heed warnings of their local executives.

“Ang aming hinihiling sa publiko sana makinig tayo sa mga warnings at sa instructions ng NDRRMC at saka ng kani-kanilang mga Disaster Risk and Rehabilitation Offices  officials. Let’s not ignore the warnings of the local government officials. Mahalaga na sundin natin ang kanilang mga babala at kanilang mga instruksyon. At kung kailangan hong magsilikas, makinig po kayo at magsilikas po kayo,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.    With Willy Balasa, AFP