‘Auring’ displaces thousands; 1 missing
Auring, the country’s first storm this year, weakened into a tropical depression Sunday night and was downgraded to an LPA on Monday afternoon after making landfall in Laoang, Northern Samar
One person was reported missing and more than 100,000 were affected by floods and other incidents caused by the low-pressure area (LPA) that was formerly tropical storm “Auring.”
A certain Sammy de la Cruz of Guiuan, Eastern Samar has yet to return from a fishing trip off Manicani Island, according to the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Eastern Visayas.
Local authorities halted search and rescue operations amid inclement weather. Auring, the first storm to enter the country this year, weakened into a tropical depression on Sunday night. It was later downgraded to LPA on Monday afternoon after making landfall on Batag Island off Laoang, Northern Samar, on its way to Bicol.
In Caraga, the storm affected some 109,430 individuals in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Dinagat Islands, and Surigao del Sur, according to the OCD.
Of the total, more than 82,000 were residents of Surigao del Sur, which was hit by heavy rains and strong winds when Auring was still a tropical storm.
Since Thursday, a total of 51,147 people have been preemptively evacuated in Caraga, with 38,366 coming from Surigao del Sur.
By Sunday, capital Tandag City was under water, prompting the local government to suspend work in public and private offices for Monday.
Four houses were destroyed and 175 others were damaged amid the floods in Surigao del Sur and neighboring Surigao del Norte, according to initial information from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Some 9,000 persons also agreed to preemptive evacuations in Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Southern Mindanao.
Among them were 5,000 residents of Candijay and Calape of Bohol, and Daanbantayan and San Francisco of Cebu, Rizajoy Hernandez, OCD Central Visayas spokesperson, said.
They have since gone home after storm warning signals in Central Visayas were lifted while sea travel, except for small watercraft, already resumed.
The storm also caused landslides and felled trees in Davao de Oro and Southern Leyte, as well as flooding in some parts of Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.