1,125 passengers plus 700 vehicles stranded in Sorsogon due to storm warning

[ASEAN NOW News]

Office of Civil Defense-Bicol regional office (PNA file photo)

 

LEGAZPI CITY – A total of 1,125 passengers have been stranded and close to seven hundred trucks, cars, trailers were marooned on Wednesday along Maharlika Highway in the towns of Matnog and Pilar in Sorsogon province, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Bicol said.

 

Gremil Alexis Naz, OCD-Bicol spokesperson, said in an interview the vehicles and people were stranded due to the order issued to local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils to implement the “no sailing policy” to brace for the possible onslaught of Severe Tropical Storm Odette.

 

Ferries at Matnog Port

 

An OCD report said there were 397 trucks, seventy-one cars, twelve trailers, and a passenger bus among the long queue of vehicles that were parked along the highway leading to the Matnog Port.

 

In Pilar town, some 177 trucks and twelve cars occupied the highway in Barangay Putiao.

 

More than a thousand passengers were also stranded after police authorities prevented the rolling cargoes from entering the ports to avoid congestion.

 

The report said despite the suspension by the Land Transportation Office-Bicol of land travel on Monday due to "Odette", some trucks and vehicles managed to pass through road checkpoints en route to the ports. 

 

Evacuations begin

 

Meanwhile different local government units in Caraga Region on Wednesday started preemptive evacuations in high-risk areas ahead of the landfall of Typhoon Odette.

 

In the province of Dinagat Islands, heavy rainfall has started to hit the different towns as of Wednesday afternoon.

 

“Evacuations of residents in flood and landslide-prone areas have started in different towns. We are monitoring these preemptive evacuations now,” Vice Gov. Nilo Demerey Jr. told the Philippine News Agency.

 

He added that there is no data so far as to the number of families and individuals being evacuated as of posting time.

 

Demerey said the provincial government and the Office of Rep. Alan 1 Ecleo is conducting relief operations for some 477 fishermen in the province who were affected by the bad weather.

 

“These fishermen were not able to go out for fishing in the last two days because of big waves. We are providing them with their immediate needs,” he said.

 

The fishermen and their families, he added, will receive rice, canned goods, noodles, and other basic needs.

 

Dinagat Island is under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) No. 1 as of Wednesday.

 

Work in government offices in the island province has also been suspended. (PNA)

 

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