Ruby starts pounding E. Visayas

CEBU, Philippines – The provinces of Northern Samar and Eastern Samar plunged into blackout yesterday morning when typhoon Ruby began to unleash strong winds and heavy rains ahead of its predicted landfall early morning today.

As early as 8 a.m. yesterday, steady downpour and strong winds were being experienced in Samar, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Leyte and Biliran provinces in Eastern Visayas.

A landslide triggered by heavy rain blocked a part of the national highway in San Julian town in Eastern Samar yesterday, according to government agencies as reported by radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo in that province.

No one was initially reported injured in the landslide at the national highway at Barangay Libas of San Julian, the report said, adding that trees were uprooted and nipa huts were destroyed in Borongan City of Eastern Samar.

The islands can no longer be seen because of the thick rains," a resident said, referring to island barangays just off the city's shores. Although mobile phone signals were still available, Internet connections were lost, he added.

In Tacloban City, electricity conked out shortly after noon yesterday as winds began to strengthen, causing rainwater to seep through gaps in closed doors and windows. Lawyer Roy Percival Perez said, "unlike Yolanda, at least Ruby's gustiness slows a bit from time to time allowing one to regain his or her composure and gather his wits.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas had prepositioned himself in Borongay City yesterday, with 955 policemen deployed as first responders. In a conference at the Capitol, Roxas and Eastern Samar Governor Condrado Nicart discussed evacuation of close to 30,000 families from 21 towns, as well as the disaster preparedness by concerned agencies with the help of non-government organizations.

In Tacloban City, at least 26,000 individuals were already brought to evacuation centers, however, despite pronouncements of the city that enough food supply, manpower and vehicles were set for distribution, evacuation centers still faced the problem of food support. There were some centers where social workers ran out of food packs to distribute and had to return to the City Hall to repack more.

The 260 families evacuated to the Philippine Science High School in Palo, Leyte also raised the problem of having no supply of food from the LGU, for the past three days, but Mayor Matin Petilla was already informed of the situation.

International relief agencies and non-governmental organizations have scrambled to pre-position disaster response resources and personnel in an effort to mitigate the typhoon's likely impact, which in the worst case scenario could affect up to an estimated 32 million people.

Power, water, and communication service providers in Leyte vowed to immediately address outages. Macel Avestruz, general manager of the Leyte II Electric Cooperative said power will continue operating even during the onslaught of Ruby, for as long as lines are not damaged.

In case electric posts are toppled down, the Leyeco II maintenance team was ready to restore these after the typhoon.

The Leyte Metropolitan Water District's concern is the heavy siltation during downpour, affecting the source. It has only one functional back hoe for clearing debris in its water generation plant, but it has seven water tankers to deliver potable water supply to the public.

Communication providers Globe Telecom, SMART and PLDT, had expected their communication lines in the region to bog down, but they assured the public they have personnel ready to check on damages and work on the immediate restoration of their lines.

In Ormoc City, at around noon yesterday, slight gusts of wind and rain started pouring, with city officials rushing up works on disaster response and evacuating thousands of families to safer structures.

Councilor Bennet Pongos Jr., noting congestion in some evacuation centers, urged other residents to "share a ride" and "share their homes" to some families for a day or two.

The City Social Welfare and Development Office, on the other hand, has started distributing food packs to the evacuees after Councilor Vincent Rama reported that evacuees complained they did not have food in the evacuation centers.  — With reports from Rommel L. Rutor, Marlon Necito A. Taño and interaskyon.com