By CESAR JOLITO III
Six individuals died in inclement weather-related incidents amid the onslaught of the southwest monsoon or habagat enhanced by Severe Tropical Storm “Crising” after heavy rains inundated low-lying communities, swelled rivers and made crossings treacherous in Negros Occidental.
Irene Bel Ploteña, chief of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), said four of the fatalities were due to drowning in the cities of Sagay and Himamaylan, as well as Binalbagan town.
Two others died of electrocution in Hinoba-an town, after coming into contact with a live electrical line that they had long used as an improvised clothesline amid the persistent wet weather.
Authorities said the remains of 30-year-old Glen Francisco Trejero from Sagay City’s Barangay Old Sagay were recovered on Sunday, July 20.
Trejero went missing at sea while fishing on Thursday, July 17, as rain and rough coastal conditions battered the area.
Search efforts were hampered by unfavorable weather and choppy waters.
Meanwhile, 44-year-old Mejhon Cordero of Hacienda Benedicto in Himamaylan City’s Barangay Cabadiangan was reported missing after he reportedly fell into an overflow in Binalbagan town’s Barangay Biao on Friday, July 18.
Residents and local responders conducted downstream checks along waterways shared by the neighboring municipalities.
Cordero’s body was found around noon on Sunday, July 20, floating in the Pangiplan River in Barangay Payao.
Twelve-year-old Daniel Agustin was carried off by strong currents after reportedly suffering an epileptic episode while attempting to cross an overflow at Sitio Mangahoykahoy in Binalbagan’s Barangay Santol on Saturday, July 19.
Relatives and rescuers later recovered the child downstream.
On the other hand, 84-year-old Asuncion Subong, a person with disability, was trapped on the first floor of her home at Sitio Bakyas in Binalbagan’s Barangay San Jose, after floodwaters rose quickly during the height of the rains on Thursday.
Subong drowned before neighbors could reach her as water entered the structure.
Electrocution
Two people died from electrocution when an improvised laundry line turned deadly at Purok Daisy in Hinoba-an’s Barangay Talacagay on Thursday morning.
The victims were identified as 36-year-old Jornalyn Omaque, a resident of Barangay Bongalonan in Negros Oriental’s Basay town, who was working as a household helper in Talacagay; and 40-year-old Florante Janoy, a resident of the village’s Purok Esmeralda.
According to Police Major Jaynick Bermudez, chief of the Hinoba-an Municipal Police Station, Omaque was hanging freshly washed clothes when she accidentally touched an exposed, still-energized electrical service line that residents had been using as a makeshift clothesline.
Janoy saw what had happened and tried to pull her away, unaware that the wire was live.
He, too, received a fatal shock.
Meanwhile, data from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that 18 local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental were affected by widespread flooding brought about by habagat enhanced by “Crising.”
Almost 19,000 families or 31,400 individuals were displaced after four days of inclement weather in LGUs such as the cities of Sipalay, Kabankalan, Himamaylan, Bago, and La Carlota, as well as Hinoba-an, Cauayan, Binalbagan, Isabela, Ilog, Candoni, Hinigaran, Calatrava, Moises Padilla, Pontevedra, Valladolid, La Castellana, and San Enrique./CJ, WDJ