CAGAYAN province has pre-positioned assets to respond to emergencies that may be caused by tropical storm “Ramon” and has evacuated families in flood and landslide-prone areas.
Cagayan is still under a state of calamity and recovering from flashfloods due to monsoon rains enhanced by tropical storm “Quiel” which left the country last week, said Rogie Sending, spokesman of the Cagayan provincial government.
“Our soil is still saturated, especially in areas where Ramon will cross… We hope it won’t cause much problem because we’re previously flooded. Our soil has no capacity to absorb (more water) because it’s still swollen,” he said.
Ramon had been expected to make landfall Monday night or early today.
As of 5 p.m. yesterday, signal No. 2 was up in Cagayan (including Babuyan Islands), the northern part of Isabela (Sta. Maria, San Pablo, Maconacon, Cabagan, Sto. Tomas, Quezon,
Delfin Albano, Tumauini and Divilacan), Apayao, Kalinga, and Ilocos Norte.
Signal No. 1 was up in Batanes, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Mountain Province, Benguet, Ifugao, La Union, northern Aurora (Dilasag, Casiguran and Dinalungan), and the rest of Isabela.
Ramon was some 125 km east of Aparri, Cagayan as of 4 p.m. yesterday.
It was moving northwest at 15 kph, packing maximum sustained winds of 100 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 125 kph. It was projected to be in the area of Calanasan town in Apayao this morning and in Doña Loreta in Pudtol, Apayao in the afternoon.
Sending said everything has been pre-positioned. “We have two operations centers already put up in Tuguegarao and in Lal-lo. We have pre-positioned human assets and heavy equipment for clearing operations.”
The human assets refer to soldiers and policemen.
He said 89 families or about 260 persons from flood and landslide-prone barangays in Praxedes and Gattaran towns have been evacuated since Sunday.
