DANAO City and Daanbantayan started evacuating residents living in coastal areas with tropical depression Samuel expected to make landfall at dawn on Wednesday, Nov. 21.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) raised the alert status to red from blue.
Julius Regner, PDRRMO information officer, urged local government units to strictly implement the mandated evacuation of residents living in danger zones in the event of a worst-case scenario.
He also discouraged local disaster officers from entertaining requests from residents to sign “waivers” that would exempt them from evacuation.
“Dili gyud na mahimo nga papirmahon lang og (You cannot just have them sign a) waiver. Kung (If it’s) forced evacuation na gane, mupahawa na gyud ta (we should force them to leave),” Regner told reporters yesterday.
Danao City local disaster officer Roland Reyes said they evacuated the coastal barangays of Dunggoan, Maslog, Sabang, Looc, Poblacion, Taytay, Suba and Guinsay last Tuesday night, Nov. 20, after they were informed that Samuel might make landfall in the city or in the neighboring town of Compostela.
Reyes assured that evacuation centers and food packs await the evacuees.
In Daanbantayan, preemptive evacuation also started in the coastal barangays of Bateria, Paypay, Bakhawan and Bitoon, Tilano Dublin, the town’s local disaster officer told SunStar Cebu.
In Compostela, local disaster officers are closely monitoring barangays that are flood-prone.
Joy Ann Cabatingan, Compostela local disaster officer, said around 800 families in Barangays Estaca, Magay, Mulao, Basak, Tamiao and Cabatiangan might be affected.
Aside from having an evacuation plan, they’ve also identified evacuation centers, she said.
Cabatingan said they will not allow families to sign waivers if they have to implement a mandated evacuation.
She said they will employ police to force them out of their houses, if necessary.
The towns of Carmen and Ronda are also prepared for the arrival of tropical depression Samuel.
Rodger Suico, Carmen municipal disaster officer, said they are closely monitoring areas that are prone to floods and flashfloods.
He said they are extra vigilant this time after the town lost six people when tropical depression Crising made landfall in Cebu last year.
In Ronda, disaster officer Gerard Anthony Aguariva said they will impose a strict “forced evacuation” policy should heavy flooding occur in residential areas.
Aguariva identified Barangays Ylaca, Lacion, Tupas and Palanas as highly prone to flooding.
With the storm expected to bring torrential rains, Aguariva said they will cite the town ordinance that imposes strict forced evacuation in danger zones.
The flood caused by tropical storm Seniang in 2014 killed 10 people in the town.
In the City of Naga, authorities evacuated residents living near the landslide-hit portion of Barangay Tina-an.
Meanwhile, the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) evacuated 155 persons in Sitio Sandayong in Barangay Buhisan.
They are currently staying in the barangay’s sports complex.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 7 had identified the area as prone to landslides.
Nagiel Bañacia, head of the CCDRRMO, said the City distributed rice and food to the evacuees.
It also deployed an ambulance stocked with medicines in the area.
Buhisan Barangay Captain Gremar Barete said the Buhisan Action Response Team (Bart) informed the affected residents at noon on Tuesday, Nov. 20, that they would have to leave their homes later that night.
The families live next to a mountain with a crack on its side that was reportedly caused by the earthquake in 2013.
The barangay is also home to the Buhisan dam.
Barete said that in the event it will overflow, they will evacuate the barangay gym and the barangay hall and the 50 families who reside next to a creek.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña, in his social media page, said the City deployed ambulances and heavy equipment like a backhoe, payloader and dumptrucks to the mountain barangays of Lusaran, Agsungot, Tabunan and Taptap in case of a landslide.
A rescue team will also be on standby on T. Padilla St. for the north district and in Mambaling for the south district.
In a related development, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Debold Sinas declared a full alert status on Tuesday morning, Nov. 20, in preparation for Samuel. That means all police officers are not allowed to go on leave and they have to stay put in their respective units.
PRO 7 deployed 377 search and rescue (SAR) personnel in Cebu and Bohol with an additional 1,655 SAR personnel on standby.
As of Tuesday noon, Nov. 20, the PRO 7 reported that 472 persons were evacuated in Cebu and Bohol.
The PRO 7 identified evacuation centers in the region: 99 in Bohol, 138 in Siquijor, 290 in Negros Oriental and 272 in Cebu.
According to the weather bureau Pagasa, Samuel is expected to make landfall in an area between Metro Cebu and Northern Cebu between 5 and 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 21.
Pagasa Cebu officer-in-charge Alfredo Quiblat said Samuel is categorized as a tropical storm with wind strength of 60 to 88 kilometers per hour. Since it carries a big volume of water rather than strong winds, Quiblat urged people to prepare for any eventuality like floods and landslides. (JKV, EOB, KAL, PAC of SuperBalita Cebu)