‘Mina’ roars toward Bicol

24 November 2007
Massive evacuation before storm called ‘unprecedented’
By Jaymee Gamil and Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzonand TJ Burgonio in Manila

WITH “MINA” THREATENing to turn into a supertyphoon, tens of thousands of people yesterday streamed into schoolhouses, barangay halls and church grounds in the Bicol region to avoid its wrath.

“This is an unprecedented move,” Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said of the massive evacuation. “While before, evacuation was being done during and after the typhoon had struck, now we are doing it days before the typhoon reaches us.”

Mina roared toward Bicol with sustained winds of 175 kph and gustiness of up to 210 kph, prompting warnings from the weather bureau that it could wreak heavy damage once it landed.

A typhoon with maximum winds of 215 kph is classified as a supertyphoon.

“It looks headed in that direction,” Pagasa weather branch chief Nathaniel Cruz said, when asked if Mina could develop into a supertyphoon like “Reming” that killed 734 people and caused massive damage in Bicol and Southern Tagalog in November last year.

At least two people yesterday drowned in floods in Buhi and Caramoan towns in Camarines Sur triggered by heavy rains.

By 5 p.m., Mina had slowed its approach from 9 kph to 7 kph, delaying its expected landfall in Catanduanes today by several hours.

This could bode ill for the country, according to experts at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

“No other weather system, like a high pressure area, is pushing it, that’s why it has slowed down,” senior weather specialist Robert Sawi said. “But once it hits land, it will be more destructive because the rains and winds will last longer in one area.”

Cruz said: “[If it’s slower], the onslaught of the strong winds will take more time in an area. Structures, trees and crops that will be subject to strong winds should be our concern.”

At its current speed, the typhoon could hit the southern part of Catanduanes tonight.

Metro Manila is expected to have cloudy weather with isolated rainshowers, according to Sawi.

Rescue at sea

The Coast Guard said 30 of 55 Filipino fishermen had been rescued after their boat sank due to bad weather off Pag-asa Island in Palawan late Thursday night.

It said it had deployed a search and rescue team and was coordinating with the Chinese maritime authorities to find those missing.

“The China Maritime Coordinating Center informed the Coast Guard about the incident around 10 p.m.,” spokesperson Lt. Armand Balilo said.

In Cebu, MV South Pacific ran aground but its 50 passengers and 19 crewmen were later rescued, the coast guard said.

State of calamity

Relief officials have stepped up evacuation of threatened areas in Albay, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon, Catanduanes in Bicol and Marinduque.

Albay has been declared under a state of calamity. A similar declaration remained in force in Catanduanes.

As of 11 a.m., the Bicol Office of Civil Defense reported there were already 16,978 families or 195,247 persons evacuated in the whole region.

Albay had the biggest number of evacuees followed by Camarines Sur, with 7,404 families; Camarines Norte, 484 families; Catanduanes, 356; and Sorsogon, 304.

Camarines Sur

The provincial disaster coordinating council in Camarines Sur reported that as of 12 noon Friday, there were 8,096 families or 37,590 persons evacuated in 16 towns.

Gov. Luis Raymond Villafuerte ordered the distribution of food packs to evacuees in 34 centers before the situation worsened.

Evacuation continued in all coastal and lakeside areas using military and local government unit trucks.

Albay

People were fleeing more than 90 hazard-prone villages in Albay.

The provincial government said it was targeting the evacuation of around 654,000 persons, 236,000 of whom were categorized as “on-site evacuees” to be housed in government-run shelters.

The remaining 418,000 persons were expected to relocate to stronger houses nearby or on safer grounds.

These “off-site” evacuees would still be given access to relief goods.

At least 141,600 people were being force-evacuated on or before the 8 p.m. Friday deadline.

Salceda’s priorities

Salceda said the priorities for evacuation were those living in flood-prone areas near river channels, gullies, and those in the eastern seaboard of the Albay gulf.

Places covered by the eastern seaboard are Tabaco and Legazpi and the towns of Tiwi, Malinao, Malilipot, Bacacay, Sto. Domingo, Manito and Rapu-Rapu.

Meteorologists said the northern areas of the eastern seaboard were particularly at risk from storm surges.

Some 44,913 people living in lahar zones had also been prioritized for evacuation by Thursday night.

Public and private schools, barangay halls, chapels and churches served as common temporary shelters for the evacuees.

Catanduanes

At least five villages in four towns of the province have remained impassable since Thursday owing to landslides and rockfalls.

Catanduanes Gov. Joseph Cua said relief items consisting of 1,000 bags of NFA rice and boxes of sardines could not be transported to at least 2,000 families housed in evacuation centers province-wide.

More than 200 passengers bound for Catanduanes were stranded at the Tabaco International Port.

Sorsogon

Fearing a repeat of the supertyphoon that hit Sorsogon last year, thousands of residents streamed to various evacuation centers.

Residents along coastal villages secured their boats—a precious possession among fishermen. Fishing boats were either kept inside the owner’s houses or carried to evacuation centers.

As of Thursday afternoon, the city disaster coordinating council recorded around 20,000 evacuees at various centers.

Mayor Leovic Dioneda said they expected more evacuees and might carry out a forced evacuation should the situation worsen.

Marinduque

People living in coastal and low-lying areas and riverbanks and those living near dams and landslide-prone places had been asked to evacuate.

Jaime Barbosa, Marinduque provincial administrator, said classes in all levels were suspended and provincial personnel were sent home early.

At least 500 passengers were stranded at the Allen port in Northern Samar after the Coast Guard barred all sea craft from leaving port.

In Pililla, Rizal, some 3,000 residents of a village lost their water supply after a landslide damaged pipes that carried water from the upland to taps in mountainside homes.

Houses in Barangay Niogan were cut off from the main water source, the Batlag creek, after a rush of mud, boulders and water rumbled down a hill around 7:30 a.m. yesterday, local officials said.

Stronger than ‘Lando’

Pagasa’s Prisco Nilo said late yesterday afternoon that Mina had not moved.

“We are having difficulty in projecting where it will hit. But our projection is toward Bicol Region,” Nilo said in a briefing at the National Disaster Coordinating Council in Camp Aguinaldo attended by President Macapagal-Arroyo.

Ms Arroyo noted that Mina was three times stronger than Typhoon “Lando,” which cut across the Visayas region a few days ago.

“It would be worse if we don’t take strong measures,” Ms Arroyo said.

Nilo said Mina was expected to be off the coast of Oriental Mindoro by Sunday morning and past Mindoro by Monday morning.

Target: Zero casualties

Bernardo Alejandro, chief of the Bicol Office of Civil Defense, said most of the evacuees, came from villages in Camarines Sur and Albay near the foot of Mayon Volcano, where the threat of lahar loomed.

“The evacuation is ongoing ... We are hoping to meet our target of zero casualties,” Alejandro said.

Public Storm Signal No. 3 was raised in the provinces of Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Albay, Burias Island, and the Camarines provinces.

Signal No. 2 was raised in southern Quezon, Polilio Island, and the provinces of Marinduque, Romblon and Masbate.

Signal No. 1 was raised in the Mindoro provinces, the rest of Quezon, Batangas, Laguna, Rizal, Aurora, Isabela, Quirino, and the Calamian Group of Islands.

Pagasa said the storm’s winds would be felt in Metro Manila.

Metro Manila was last hit by a supertyphoon in late 2006, when “Milenyo” downed power and communication lines and billboards along major roads in the metropolis.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said military units in Bicol as well as Metro Manila had been alerted. With reports from Bobby Labalan, Fernan Gianan and Gerald Gene Querubin, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas, and Margaux C. Ortiz, Tarra Quismundo and Alcuin Papa in Manila