BY VICTOR REYES and CHRISTIAN OINEZA
EIGHT persons died in Tanay, Rizal on Saturday night as the passenger jeepney they were riding was swept by a flash flood as it was crossing a river in Barangay Sta. Ines, the Tanay, Rizal Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO) said yesterday.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has not linked the incident to tropical storm “Rosal” which was 505 km east of Tuguegarao City in Cagayan as of 4 p.m. yesterday, and is not seen to make landfall.
The NDRRMC reported on preemptive evacuation operations involving 31 families or 109 individuals in Hamtic town in Antique, and seven families or 32 individuals in Butuan City in Agusan del Norte. It said there were reports of flooding in these areas but roads are still passable.
In Rizal, MDRRMO chief Norberto Francisco Matienzo Jr. said the accident happened at around 6:15 p.m. on Saturday. He said the vehicle, which was carrying 25 passengers, experienced mechanical problems, got stuck, and was later swept by a flash flood.
The bodies of the victims have been recovered. The fatalities were identified by the Rizal police as Teresita Quinto, Maylard Keith Fernandez, Leonida Doroteo, Salvacion Delgado, Carmen dela Cruz, Esmena Doroteo, Avelino Buera, and Teodora Buera, 5.
The jeepney driver identified as Jun Pio Domayik Jr. was missing.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said a landfall scenario for Rosal is now remote as it began moving away from the Philippine landmass.
It said Rosal’s track shifted northeastward yesterday, from northwestward on Saturday when it developed into a tropical depression from low pressure area.
In a bulletin issued at 5 p.m. yesterday, PAGASA said Rosal was moving northeastward at 15 kph, packing maximum sustained winds of 55 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 70kph.
“Rosal has started moving away from the Philippine landmass, that will continue in the coming days. Therefore, it’s already remote for the tropical depression to make landfall in our country,” PAGASA weather specialist Aldczar Aurelio said in a briefing.
Rosal was a low pressure area (LPA) when it entered the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) on Thursday last week. It intensified into a tropical depression last Saturday and was given the name Rosal, the country’s 18th tropical cyclone this year and the first for this month.
Aurelio said Rosal is forecast to intensify into a tropical storm within 24 hours.
Another PAGASA weather specialist, Veronica Torres, said that while Rosal may become a tropical storm today, it will weaken into a tropical depression later today or early Tuesday.
“Then on late Tuesday or early Wednesday, it will (further) weaken into a low pressure area,” said Torres.
PAGASA said Quirino, Aurora, Quezon, Marinduque, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro and Camarines Norte will have cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms due to the trough of Rosal.
Ilocos region, the Cordillera Administrative Region, and the rest of Cagayan Valley region will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with light rains due to the northeast monsoon.
Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms due to the trough or Rosal and localized thunderstorms.
