2,000 Negrense families affected

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Super typhoon Yolanda battered northern Negros Occidental yesterday and, as of 3 p.m., close to 2,000 families or 9,000 individuals from seven towns and cities in the province were affected, according to the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office.

The affected LGUs are the cities of Sipalay, Kabankalan and Himamaylan and the towns of Calatrava, E. B. Magalona, Ilog and La Castellana.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council was on alert status yesterday and continued to monitor the condition of  affected families.

Its command center at NOMPAC in Bacolod is now operating 24/7 and distributing relief goods to affected areas. More than 14,000 Negrenses were housed in 71 evacuation centers in 10 towns and cities.

The entire province had power outage since early morning, with some electric posts toppled. Some roads in northern part of the province were rendered impassable due to fallen trees, while the highway in San Carlos City was impassable due to landslides.

Meanwhile, the provinces of Aklan and Antique and some towns in Iloilo were blanketed in darkness as power and communications were out at around noontime yesterday, according to a PNA report. (FREEMAN)