One person has died, another was reported missing, and over 100,000 individuals in the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions have evacuated due to typhoon “Bising,” disaster officials said yesterday.
Bising will continue to gradually weaken and is forecast to exit the Philippine area of responsibility on Saturday, according to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical, Astronomical and Services Administration.
In a bulletin issued at 5 p.m. yesterday, PAGASA also said seven areas were under signal No. 2 — the whole of Catanduanes and Northern Samar, and parts of Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon, Samar, and Eastern Samar.
Fifteen areas were under signal No. 1 — the whole of Isabela, Quirino, Camarines Norte, Masbate including Burias and Ticao Islands and Leyte, and parts of Cagayan, Aurora, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon, Samar, Eastern Samar, and Cebu, including Bantayan and Camotes Islands.
PAGASA said Bising is forecast to move “generally northward or north northwestward until Wednesday evening or Thursday early morning” and “generally northeastward or east northeastward away from the landmass of Luzon.”
As of 4 p.m yesterday, Bising was some 500 km east of Infanta, Quezon.
It was slowly moving north northwestward, with maximum sustained winds of 195kph and gustiness of up to 240 kph.
The Office of Civil Defense-Eastern Visayas named the fatality as Alberto Wales, 79, of Barangay San Isidro, St. Bernard town in Southern Leyte.
Wales was hit by a fallen coconut.
The OCD-Eastern Visayas also reported as missing Louie Din, 40, of Barangay Dao, San Jose town in Northern Samar, after he went to a nearby island, aboard a motor banca, to get livestock last Friday.
The office also said 1,432 families or 5,415 individuals were preemptively evacuated from high-risk areas in Biliran, Western Samar, Northern Samar and Eastern Samar provinces in the Eastern Visayas region.
It reported flooding 42 barangays in Northern Samar and 24 barangays in Eastern Samar.
Junrey Mencide of the St Bernard municipal disaster risk reduction and management office in Southern Leyte said weather in the town has improved although it was still cloudy yesterday.
The OCD-Bicol region said Bising displaced some 29,300 families or about 109,800 persons in the provinces of Albay, Camarines, Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate and Sorsogon.
Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and concurrent administrator of the Office of Civil Defense, declined to make an initial assessment on the damage caused by Bising, saying the two regions “continue to experience rains though the rains in Eastern Visayas has weakened.”
Weather special Ariel Rojas said Bising is moving slowly due to two high pressure systems that is pushing the typhoon away.
Senior weather specialist Chris Perez said Bising’s outermost periphery continues affect parts of the country, especially those with warning signals.
Mayor Harris Christopher Ongchuan of Laoang town in Northern Samar said at least 808 families composed of some 2,150 individuals from 14 flood-affected barangays are staying at evacuation centers.
Laoang is composed of 56 barangays.
Ongchuan said it was the first time the town experienced 24-hour continuous rains in April during the dry season.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reminded local governments to make sure that suspected and confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients are not placed together with other evacuees.
“As to COVID-19 patients, they must have separate facility, as well as those close contacts.
They cannot be mixed with the rest of the population, who are evacuated,” said Vergeire.
She also said reminded evacuees to observe minimum public health standards. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Gerard Naval
