Local government officials continued on Friday with the massive forced evacuation in the areas that would be severely affected by Typhoon Ompong, which has already killed one person in Albay due to flooding spawned by its heavy rain.
The victim, an eight-month-old baby was found floating by relatives in floodwaters at their backyard in Barangay 1, Pio Duran, Albay, although the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said it was still verifying the report.
Edgar Posadas, spokesman of the NDRRMC said officials in Northern Luzon, whose provinces were already under storm signals number 2 or 3, were desperately working to move residents out of the areas prone to flood and landslide before the typhoon could hit land early Saturday.
Posadas said the government needs to evacuate at least 983,000 people and this number could even increase depending upon the assessments of local officials in the areas seen that would be affected by Ompong.
As of 6 a.m. on Friday, the NDRRMC spokesman said at least 2,298 families or 9,107 persons have been taken to safer grounds in Regions 1 and 2 and in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
A total of 662 cities and municipalities in the same regions and in Regions 4-A, 4B, 5, 6 and 7 have also suspended classes, while government offices in Northern Luzon have also been shut down except those engaged in providing frontline services for the typhoon.
“For the airports, we have a total 22 domestic flights cancelled due to bad weather… We also have 4,000 passengers, 637 rolling cargos and 46 vessels and 36 motorbancas stranded in several ports around the country,” Posadas said.
While the NDRRMC earlier projected that at least 4.3 million people are expected to be directly affected by Ompong, Posadas said the number has already grew to 5.2 million, and most of them are in Cagayan Valley.
“As to the number of municipalities affected, this has increased from 159,000 yesterday to today’s 189, 000,” he said.