ORMOC CITY, Leyte — The bodies of two young siblings were found at different sites Sunday morning, a day after they were swept by flood waters from Anilao River in San Pablo village here after a heavy downpour.
The police identified the drowned kids as Nerry Gonaro, Jr., 8, and Jhonar Joseph Gonato 9. They went swimming at the river while their mother, Jocelyn Gonato, 55, was on an errand in a nearby town that day.
Nerry was found by a villager submerged at the side of the Anilao river, face down and entangled in weeds while the body of his elder brother, Jhonar Joseph was found by a fisherman floating in a deep sea in the nearby village of Bantigue. Police said the two were found some five kilometers away from where they were last seen swimming.
Jocelyn said she left her four young children to their neighbor when she left for an errand at a nearby town.
According to residents, heavy rains last Saturday afternoon triggered flood water surge, but the young victims seem to have continued soaking themselves despite the bad weather.
Jocelyn said her kids used to swim along with playmates at the river in the village located at the back of their school near their house.
The mother said her kids’ playmates seem unaware of their whereabouts until she learned the next morning that the bodies had been recovered.
In the 1991 disaster, the strong, gushing floodwater that overflowed to the city’s commercial area during the flashflood came from Anilao River and claimed 4,992 lives and more than 3,000 missing. (Elvie Roa/PNA)
