By CESAR JOLITO III
Typhoon “Tino” left 31 people dead and 59 others missing while affecting more than 170,000 individuals across Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, according to consolidated reports from provincial disaster and police offices.
In Negros Occidental, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson confirmed that 22 individuals died due to “Tino,” with 41 individuals still missing as of yesterday morning.
La Castellana town recorded 10 fatalities and 23 missing; La Carlota City, four dead and 11 missing; Bago City, three dead and seven missing; San Carlos City, also with three fatalities; and Murcia, with two.
“We are hoping that the number of fatalities will not increase and that the missing individuals will soon be found,” Lacson said yesterday, adding that the provincial government is assessing whether to declare a state of calamity.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office reported that 39,102 families or 134,718 individuals across 375 barangays have been affected by the typhoon’s onslaught on Tuesday, November 4.
Of these, 16,215 families (54,973 persons) sought shelter in evacuation centers, while 8,822 families (36,784 individuals) stayed with relatives or outside official shelters.
Binalbagan town recorded the highest number of evacuees with 7,183 families (28,748 persons), followed by San Carlos with 3,592 evacuees, and Bago City with 1,146 persons.
Flooding, toppled trees and damaged homes were also reported in the cities of Cadiz, Himamaylan and Kabankalan, as well as the municipalities of Ilog and E.B. Magalona.
In Murcia, authorities recovered two bodies from the Bago River — one of them a two-year-old child.
Police said both were believed to have drowned amid rising floodwaters on Monday afternoon, November 3.
In Negros Oriental, Police Lt. Stephen Polinar, spokesperson of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office, confirmed nine fatalities — eight in Canlaon City due to possible drowning and one in Vallehermoso town after being hit by rolling boulders during flash floods.
Twenty-three people remain missing in Canlaon, while one is missing in Vallehermoso.
Still no classes
In Bacolod City, Mayor Greg Gasataya announced class suspensions at all levels in public and private schools in the city from November 6 to 7, pursuant to Executive Order No. 70, “to safeguard the welfare of our learners, teachers, and school personnel, and to give our families time to recover, rebuild and regain strength after the devastation brought by Typhoon ‘Tino.’”
“Let us use this time to take care of one another, help our neighbors, and heal together as one,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Gasataya announced that the city recorded zero casualties, crediting this to effective preemptive evacuations prior to the storm’s landfall.
The Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center reported 6,405 families (about 24,000 individuals) were evacuated to 50 shelters citywide.
The city also documented 179 toppled trees, which caused temporary power interruptions and road blockages. Clearing operations are ongoing, led by teams from the Department of Public Works and Highways and the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
“Tino” lashed Negros Island on Tuesday with powerful winds and torrential rains, submerging communities, toppling electric poles and triggering widespread blackouts.
Authorities have urged residents to remain alert as landslides and flash floods remain possible in saturated areas./CJ, WDJ