• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Due to inclement weather caused by Tropical Storm Kristine, face to face classes in about 611 schools in Negros Occidental, including the highly urbanized city of Bacolod, were suspended yesterday.
Under the supervision of the Negros Occidental Provincial Schools Division, a total of 226 schools suspended classes, some even beginning October 21. Seventy more schools under the Division of Bacolod followed suit, 81 in Cadiz City, 48 in Escalante City, 119 in Kabankalan City, 64 in Himamaylan City, and 3 in San Carlos City.
For the entire Western Visayas, a total of 728,455 students were affected by the class suspensions, 99,044 of which are students from the Negros Occidental Schools Division.
The cities of San Carlos, Victorias, and Bacolod have announced that the suspension of classes has been extended until Wednesday, October 23.
However, for the college level in Bacolod City, the decision to suspend classes is upon the discretion of their school administration, according to Atty. Caesar Distrito, spokesman of Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez.
FLOODING
Flooding in eight barangays of the cities of Bago and Cadiz in Negros Occidental also triggered the evacuation of 316 families, according to Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management chief Irene Bel Ploteña.
In highly urbanized Bacolod City, a total of 111 families, composed of 251 individuals, in Barangay Sum-ag left their homes and temporarily moved to evacuation centers because of flash floods, according to reports of the City Social Welfare and Development Office.
WIND
Because of the strong to gale-force winds associated with Tropical Storm Kristine affecting eastern seaboards of Luzon and Visayas issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, suspended were the scheduled trips of MV Reiseschat 1 from Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, to Guimaras, and vice versa.
Cmdr. Jansen Benjamin, Coast Guard Northern Negros Occidental chief, also alerted larger sea vessels against big waves, as he advised them to take extra precautionary measures during unfavorable weather condition to avert maritime incidents.*
