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Monday, November 26, 2007
6 die as Mina moves north
MANILA -- Typhoon Mina roared closer to the northeastern Philippines Sunday, causing floods that killed at least six people, while a deadly storm that blew away days earlier headed back, complicating emergency preparations across the country.
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Five people drowned and another was electrocuted due to floods set off by Mina, which was powering over the Philippine Sea toward the east coast of the country's main island of Luzon, said Health Secretary Francisco Duque.
The deaths occurred in Camarines Sur province, southeast of Manila. Hospitals in areas at risk were ordered to stay open 24 hours, Duque said.
Earlier Sunday, Bernardo Alejandro, director of the Office of the Civil Defense in Bicol, said they were trying to the death of a seven-year-old who drowned in Camarines Norte.
Alejandro said in the Bicol region, which was earlier forecast to be directly hit by the typhoon, the number of evacuees reached 298,314 persons or over 64,000 families but many of them have returned to their homes as Mina took a different track.
Mina, with sustained winds of 160 kph and gusts of 195 kph, was expected to slam into the coast of northern Isabela province before dawn Monday.
Approaching at 15 kph, it was forecast to then blow across the mountainous north before exiting into the South China Sea on Wednesday, said government forecaster Frisco Nilo.
Public storm signal No. 3 is raised over the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Qurino, Aurora, Catanduanes, Camarines Norte and Polilio Island. Nilo said while Catanduanes, Camarines Norte and Polilio Island are not going to be directly hit they will still be affected by Mina's strong winds.
Public storm signal No. 2 is raised over Camarines Sur, Quezon, Nueva Viscaya, Mountain Province, Kalinga, and Apayao while public storm signal No. 1 is up in Albay, Burias Island, Marinduque, Laguna, Rizal, Bulacan, Batangas, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Benguet, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Abra and Babuyan group of islands.
While Metro Manila is not covered by any public storm signal, Nilo said rain showers are expected until Tuesday.
Shift preparations
Mina has been the most erratic of the 13 typhoons and major storms that have hit the Philippines this year. It first headed for the populous Bicol region, where more than 250,000 people were evacuated, but shifted Saturday to a new northerly course, Nilo said.
NDCC spokesman Anthony Golez said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called the governors of the provinces that would be hit by Mina during an executive meeting in Malacañang to ensure that preemptive evacuation are taking place.
According to Golez, the President spoke with Albay Governor Joey Salceda who said he has ordered the return of his constituents who have been earlier evacuated to their homes, particularly those in the eastern seaboard or coastline because they are not going to be hit by Mina. "But those in the lahar and flood prone areas will stay," added Golez.
As authorities scrambled to shift evacuation efforts and emergency preparations to Mina's new target areas, specifically the northern provinces of Isabela, Aurora and Cagayan, forecasters said a typhoon that killed 13 people in the Philippines last week before heading for Vietnam had reversed direction and was powering back toward the central Philippines.
Lando, which weakened to a tropical storm Friday, was expected to lash the western Philippine province of Palawan on Tuesday, Nilo said.
Disaster-response agencies, along with troops and police officers, were ordered to brace again for Lando, which has the international code name Hagibis, a Philippine name for rapidly galloping animals, Nilo said.
Mina and Lando were influencing each other, resulting in their erratic movements, he said, warning that government forecasters were monitoring a new low-pressure area that could develop into a storm over the Pacific Ocean and affect the Philippines in a few days.
President Arroyo's Cabinet and relief agency officials went on national TV to explain emergency preparations.
Thousands of villagers in low-lying and coastal areas, as well as those living near mountains, have begun evacuating to government-run shelters. Food packs and medicine have been stockpiled for displaced residents, and air force helicopters were on standby for rescue missions, officials said.
'We're ready'
Authorities partly opened a major dam on Luzon to try to help cope with expected heavy rains, Nilo said.
"We're ready. We're expanding preparedness measures. These typhoons are moving slowly so they could dump a lot of rain," said Glen Rabonza, administrator of the Office of Civil Defense.
Chief government forecaster Nathaniel Cruz appealed to villagers in dangerous areas to heed orders to evacuate.
"If people could see the satellite imagery that we monitor, they would realize we're not joking," Cruz said.
The Philippine military declared a unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels on Luzon Saturday to allow troops to focus on disaster preparedness.
Coast guard spokesman Lt. Armand Balilo said Filipino and Chinese authorities were still searching for 26 Filipino fishermen whose boat capsized in the South China Sea on Friday. (AP/With VR/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (November 26, 2007 issue)
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