MANILA, Philippines - Renewed hours of heavy rains triggered by prolonged bad weather systems all over Visayas has prompted local disaster officials in Southern Leyte yesterday to order the forced evacuation of residents from 20 villages at the flood-stricken and landslide-devastated town of St. Bernard town.
Eastern Visayas is among the 10 regions in the country badly-hit by widespread flooding and landslides over the past three weeks due to effects of the tail of a cold front and aggravated by northeast monsoon rains.
“Forced evacuation was enforced yesterday on residents at 20 barangays in St. Bernard due to renewed heavy rains,” National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive officer and Office of Civil Defense (OCD) administrator Benito Ramos said.
Ramos made this announcement as he was about to leave Camp Aguinaldo yesterday afternoon for Leyte to supervise the ongoing disaster and relief operations being conducted by various disaster line agencies as well as the military and the police.
In October last year, the entire Barangay Guinsaogon in St. Bernard was buried by a massive landslide coming from a nearby mountain that gave way from days of continuous rains.
Ramos said that it has been raining heavily without letup yesterday afternoon all over Eastern Visayas, specifically within the areas of St. Bernard.
“Our local disaster officials decided to enforce the forced evacuation because some residents are still reluctant to leave their houses despite the looming dangers of another widespread flooding and landslides,” Ramos said.
As of yesterday, Ramos also reported that the severe weather systems plaguing parts of Mindanao, the whole of Visayas and Southern Luzon have already claimed 71 lives.