2,553 Negrenses Evacuated Due to ‘Crising’ – Enhanced Habagat

A total of 2,553 Negrenses from seven towns and two cities in southern areas of Negros Occidental were evacuated due to incessant rains and widespread flooding caused by the Southwest Monsoon and Tropical Depression Crising, caused widespread flooding on Thursday, July 17.

The rains also caused landslides and rendering several roads and bridges impassable to traffic in southern Negros.

Irene Bel Ploteña, head of the Provincial Disaster Management Program Division (PDMPD), in a report to Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said that floodwaters in several barangays reached two to five feet in height.

Data from the PDRMMO:
Hinoba-an — 211 families
Cauayan — 295
Binalbagan — 142
Isabela — 720
Sipalay City — 16
Kabankalan City — 464
Himamaylan City — 489
Ilog — 37
Moises Padilla — 159

Landslides were also reported in Barangays Culipapa and Bulwagan in Hinoba-an; Brgy Montilla in Moises Padilla; and Mauboy and San Francisco Village in Brgy Nabulao and Brgy. Maricalum in Sipalay City.

Rockslides were also reported in Caliling, Cauayan based on reports from barangay officials and residents.

Motorists were stranded in the boundaries of Isabela and Binalbagan, Isabela and Hinigaran, and Isabela and Crossing Magallon due to floodwaters that submerged major highways, with several houses under water.

A total of 17 barangays in Sipalay City were also hit by a power interruption on Thursday.

Twenty eight local government units in the province suspended classes while some suspended work in government offices.* (Arman P. Toga / NDB photos)