More than 100 Romblon town residents evacuate, power outage hits 20k homes due to 'Dante'

More than 100 residents of Barangay Tabobo-an in Odiongan, Romblon evacuated due to flooding brought by Tropical Storm Dante that hit different parts of the country this week.

In Bam Alegre's report over Balitanghali, some residents were forced to hold on to ropes due to the head-deep floods.

At one point, a child was rescued from the flash flood by being placed in a basin.

Meanwhile, over 20,000 houses experienced brownouts in Tablas Island, Romblon, after heavy winds and strong rains downed power lines and trees.

In Barangay Buenavista, Looc, Romblon, a boat carrying 21 crew members sank because of the strong water currents. The victims were immediately rescued and brought to a covered court where they temporarily took shelter.

Also, cottage and other attractions in a resort in Nabas, Aklan were heavily damaged amid the onslaught of the storm.

Over 300 passengers were also stranded in Batangas port with the ongoing effects of the tropical storm.

In an interview with Balitanghali Thursday, Odiongan Mayor Trina Firmalo said there was no reported casualty in their area.

She said it is still cloudy in the province but rains  have already stopped and flooding has subsided.

She added that officials have started to inspect damage caused by the tropical storm in agriculture and infrastructure.

The mayor also attributed the zero casualty to the quick response of local officials.

"We are grateful na (umaga) nangyari 'yung malakas na ulan, kung gabi po 'yun siguradong maraming casualties. During the day na-mobilize ang rescue teams at maraming nailikas bago tumaas ang baha," Firmalo said.

(We are grateful that it happened in the morning because if it occurred at night, there would be a lot of casualties. During the day, we mobilized our rescue teams and immediately asked residents to leave their homes before floods worsened.)

It also has been decades since the province experienced severe flooding, Firmalo noted.

On the issue of brownouts, the mayor said power has slowly returned to homes in their province this morning.

Meanwhile, the local chief executive also asked for assistance from the national government to help repair damaged infrastructure.

"We really like to ask assistance from the national government para maibalik ang construction sa tama, lalo na along national roads (to repair infrastructure, especially national roads)," she said.—AOL, GMA News