Low pressure area triggers floods in Palawan

PALAWAN, Philippines – The low pressure area (LPA) which was formerly Tropical Depression Basyang (Sanba) caused flooding in Palawan on Thursday, February 15, forcing 35 families or 144 individuals to flee their homes.

The Narra Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) in southern Palawan began evacuating the residents from the low-lying barangay of Elvita on Thursday morning.

Assistant disaster officer Arlie Deles said two municipal trucks went back and forth to Barangay Elvita to bring the residents to the town gymnasium in Barangay Poblacion.

One of the evacuees is Angela Samblasiño, 23, who was carrying her one-month-old daughter as she waded through the floodwaters from their submerged house.

“When we left there, the floodwaters from the river that overflowed were almost waist-deep. This is the 4th time we evacuated since we’d been hit by typhoons starting last December,” she said.

Evacuees have been provided with food packs while staying at the town gymnasium.

Deles said they are eyeing a relocation site for Barangay Elvita residents who usually evacuate whenever heavy rains hit.

“The municipal government has already purchased a 3-hectare land within the barangay for their relocation,” he added.

Provincial disaster officer Cruzalde Ablaña said 331 families who moved to safer ground in the past few days as Basyang was heading towards Palawan have already returned to their homes.

Ablaña said these families were from Rizal and Sofronio Española towns in southern Palawan, and also from the island towns of Araceli and Magsaysay in northern Palawan.

“Currently in the evacuation centers are those in Narra, plus the 83 families who preemptively evacuated and traveled from Mangsee Islands to Poblacion in Balabac town last Tuesday (February 13),” he said in a phone interview on Thursday afternoon. – Rappler.com