More than 2,000 people remain in government-run evacuation centers in Bicol region and in the province of Negros Occidental due to flooding spawned by strong to moderate rain brought by the prevailing tail-end of a cold front and the northeast monsoon.
Incidents of landslides were also reported in the provinces of Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon due to the steady rainfall, forcing the evacuation of at least 2,049 families or 9,158 individuals in Region 4B, Region 5 and Region 6.
At least 562 families or 2,067 individuals have since remained in evacuation centers, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said last Sunday. Two people have died while four others were reported missing due to incidents of flooding.
The bad weather that prevailed over Luzon and parts of the Visayas before the New Year and until the first Sunday of 2021, triggered flooding in Tuguegarao City, Ballesteros, Solana and Rizal, all in Cagayan, and in three towns in Palawan and Oriental Mindoro.
The NDRRMC said the sustained rain also spawned flooding in 22 towns of Camarines Sur, Sorsogon and Capiz, and shut down key and secondary roads in Isabela, Cagayan, Albay, Sorsogon, Camarines Sur, Oriental Mindoro and Negros Occidental.
Likewise, incidents of landslides were reported in Albay, Camarines Sur and Sorsogon, three of the provinces in Bicol region that are still recovering from the effects of Supertyphoon Rolly and Typhoon Ulysses, which wreaked havoc in the country late last year.
The NDRRMC said at least 54 houses in Camarines Sur and Negros Occidental were damaged.