PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — Three persons had been killed, 30 others were reported missing, and 2,000 residents were evacuated Sunday morning as Tropical Storm “Vinta” made landfall in southern Palawan.
Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRMO) authorities said most families evacuated were from Balabac, Bataraza and Brooke’s Point towns.
Captain Wanel Ansa, environment unit and civil-military affairs officer of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 4 (MBLT4), which has been helping disaster risk reduction management authorities in the Vinta-affected areas, said the three fatalities are from Balabac.
“In Mangsee, Balabac, 70 percent or 100 houses had reportedly been washed out by Vinta. Around 15 fishing boats and passengers vessels (lantsa) were destroyed and sank, and around 30 persons have been reported missing as of this morning. Three were said to have died too, but these are all still being confirmed,” Ansa said.
One fatality was said to be a resident of Barangay Sebaring, and two, who were children, were residents of Agutayan.
In Barangays Poblacion 3, 4, and 5, 49 houses were damaged, rendering many families homeless a day before Christmas. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 40,142 people.
Balabac is a second class municipality in southern-most island of Palawan that is only about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Sabah, Malaysia, across the Balabac Strait.
In neighboring Bataraza, a first-class mining town in the southern area, an estimated 429 families (2,072 individuals) from at least three flood-prone barangays were relocated to different evacuation centers as of 6:45 a.m. Sunday, according to Lt. Edgar Antonio of MBLT4.
“Families were also relocated from Barangay Buliluyan to a nearby school, but they have since returned home. The sun has started to appear here now,” he said.
In Brooke’s Point town, unofficial reports claimed 141 families (607 individuals) were relocated too, in evacuation areas due to landslides and flooding that threatened their homes, said Ansa.
Although some families have returned home, he said, many remain in evacuation centers who are being assisted by the Municipal DRRMO. (PNA)
