OCD Advises Public to Remain Alert With the Monsoon Rains

BY: BY CARLITO C. DAR

BAGUIO CITY, Aug. 23 (PIA) -- The Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-Cordillera  advises the public  especially those near bodies of water and on mountainous areas  to remain alert and take precautionary measures against possible flash floods or landslides with the enhanced Southwest moonsoon.

OCD- OIC Regional Director Andrew Alex Uy, in an interview, disclosed that intermittent or unpredictable rains due to the effect of the Southwest monsoon are still being felt in the Cordillera region especially  in the  Baguio-Benguet area. This, he said, may still trigger flash floods or landslides as the soil is saturated from the continuous rains in the past several days posing  threat  most especially to those residing in mountain slopes and  flood-prone areas.

Uy reported that for Baguio City alone,   rainfall for the past six days as recorded by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration (PAGASA)  reached 637.1mm.

The Cordillera Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CRDRRMC) has  set the rainfall threshold to 150mm of continuous rains  wherein pre-emptive evacuation must be implemented.

Meantime, Uy also advised  all local DRRM concils to continuously undertake precautionary measures and intensify their preparedness in their respective areas  of responsibility.

“Let us not under estimate the possible negative impact of the continuous rain occurrences”, Uy stressed.

The recent  tropical  storm  Maring which  enhanced the Southwest  monsoon resulted to three persons missing in the Cordillera region.

Search operations are still on going for  Rosalino Calantay,  30,  from Tubo Abra  who  was suspected to have drowned; Monching Bakidan, 18,  from Natonin,  Mountain Province,  also reported to have  drowned at the Chico River,  and Eufrocinia Gonzales Manaois,  49,  from Dagupan City,  Pangasinan, who was reported missing at the Sumaguing Cave in Sagada, Mountain  Province. She was  among  the  31 persons  trapped inside the Sumaguing Cave  last Aug. 18 when  the continuous and excessive rainfall flooded the entry and exit point of the cave. (JDP/CCD-PIA CAR)