DUMAGUETE CITY – Continuous and heavy rains Wednesday night have caused landslides and damage to a bridge in the municipality of Pamplona, Negros Oriental.
Lorena Jo Ebora, head of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO) of Pamplona, confirmed that as early as 4 a.m. Thursday, their office had received reports of a road rendered impassable by a landslide and a bridge that became impassable after the river waters had overflowed.
Ebora said Tropical Depression Agaton early this week had brought rains to Pamplona but Wednesday night’s heavy volume of rains caused the Tanjay River to overflow and the already loosened soil by the weather disturbance resulted in the landslide.
The biggest of the landslides was reported in Sitio Siete, Barangay San Isidro, along the national road that connects Pamplona to the adjacent municipality of Sta. Catalina and Bayawan City, Ebora said.
Vallacar Transit had cancelled its Ceres bus trips in these areas after the road was rendered impassable due to the landslide, she added.
As of Thursday afternoon, the road was still impassable even as clearing operations had already started as early as 10 a.m. on the same day by the provincial government of Negros Oriental and the Department of Public Works and Highways, according to Ebora.
The DRRMO town chief said two dump trucks and two payloaders were initially deployed, but at sundown, the clearing operations had to be halted and would be resumed on Friday.
The first to respond to the scene were the DRRMO members and the Pamplona police to secure the area at dawn Thursday in the absence of ample lighting, said Ebora.
The Simborio Bridge, meanwhile, also remains impassable to motorcycles and four-wheeled vehicles after the Tanjay River and other river systems overflowed, with strong river currents washing away the bridge’s approach, Ebora said.
The Simborio barangay DRRM council, however, had, on early Thursday, put up improvised ladders, so that students and teachers could cross the bridge on foot on their way to school, Ebora disclosed.
The DPWH has already responded and inspected the damaged bridge.
So far, there are no reports of casualties in Pamplona even as the local government unit headed by Mayor Janice Degamo is continuously monitoring the situation in that town, Ebora said.
Other barangays in Pamplona have also reported of minor landslides/landslips, while some spillways had also overflowed.
In a related development, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) headed by its Executive Officer Adrian Sedillo is also awaiting reports from other areas such as Tanjay City and Sta. Catalina following reports that these had also suffered landslides due to the heavy rains Wednesday evening.
These areas have river systems that are interconnected, Sedillo said. (Mary Judaline Partlow/PNA)
