4 Isabela towns under flood, landslide alerts; evacuations start in Baler

Local disaster response agencies in Aurora and Isabela on Saturday issued alerts and started preemptive evacuations in areas that may be severely affected by Typhoon Lando.

 

Radio dzBB reported that according Gabriel Llave, municipal disaster risk reduction and management officer, they have asked all hotels in coastal areas in Baler, Aurora to tell their guests to transfer to other establishments in preparation for the typhoon.

 

Llave said that based on data from the local tourism department, there were at least 2,000 tourists staying in hotels in Baler town.

 

He, however, said that a lot of tourists have left Baler due to news that the town will be hit by Lando.

 

Five families from areas near rivers in the town have also been evacuated to safer areas.

 

Constante Foronda, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office in Isabela, said they have alerted their units in four flood- and landslide-prone areas in the province.

 

Foronda said residents in San Mariano and Benito Soliven towns have been alerted against possible flooding due to heavy rains expected from Lando.

 

He added that their units are on alert in the landslide-prone Barangay Masaya Sur in San Agustin town and Barangay Nilumot in JOnes.

 

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Northern Luzon Command on Saturday alerted its response task group in anticipation of Typhoon Lando, which is feared to reach super typhoon level.

 

A separate radio dzBB report said that the response task group will be deployed to areas that will be severely affected by the typhoon.

 

President Benigno Aquino III on Friday night placed the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) on full alert.

 

The NDRRMC's members include the Department of National Defense (Armed Forces of the Philippines), Department of Interior and Local Government (Philippine National Police, local government units, Bureau of Fire), Department of Health and the Department of Science and Technology (PAGASA).

 

Aquino, citing PAGASA's forecast, said that 12-hours of heavy rains may be expected as Lando hits landmass in Luzon on Sunday.

 

GMA News' IM Ready consultant Dr. CP David had said that all indications point toward a landfall in Isabela on Sunday or early Monday morning.

 

David said that two global climate models (Global Forecast System and Europe Global Climate Models), however, differ in their observation whether Lando, once it makes landfall, will start moving northward or continue with a northwest path toward Ilocos.

 

He added that the said models also show that Lando may possibly intensify into a super typhoon with strength of over 200 kilometers per hour. —ALG, GMA News