• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The shearline-induce rains on Monday forced pre-emptive evacuations of 319 families in seven barangays of the cities of Silay and Talisay in Negros Occidental.
Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Irene Bel Ploteña reported that 162 families, composed of 770 persons, participated in the pre-emptive evacuations in barangays of Rizal, E. Lopez, and Mambulac in Silay, as well as 157 families, comprising 611 individuals, in Barangays Zone 12, 12-A, Zones 2 and 3 in Talisay City.
The evacuation operations started at about 4 a.m. on Monday, triggered by heavy rainfall.
Classes were also suspended at noon in Silay City, Ploteña added.
Local disaster authorities also raised alerts over flooding and landslides.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau reported that 17 barangays in Toboso, the cities of Sagay, Cadiz, Escalante, and Silay, as well as Calatrava, E.B. Magalona, and Don Salvador Benedicto, as areas that may likely experience flooding and landslides, due to heavy rains triggered by the shearline.*
