Ilocos Norte families flee to safer grounds

BAGUIO CITY (November 7, 2024)— At least 8 families in barangay Lanao and 97 more in barangay Payak, both in Bangui town in Ilocos Norte have been evacuated to safer grounds ahead of the onslaught of possible flooding and devastation, the DSWD said.



Seventeen more families from barangay Panzian in Pagudpud were also brought to take temporary refuge in evacuation centers to avoid untoward incidents that may befall them, reported the DSWD Office of the Assistant Secretary for Disaster Management Response.

Some 899 families were also reported to have been isolated due to a mini-road landslide in Adams town, it added.

Some 350 family food packs, according to the DSWD, will be provided by the Ilocos Norte provincial government to the families in Adams to augment the 549 food packs already in the stockpile of relief goods in the town’s relief items warehouse.

Since yesterday, added the DSWD, preemptive evacuations were conducted in Conner and Pudtol, in Apayao province, both in the Cordillera region. The exact number of evacuees are yet to be summed up as numbers continue to rise.

Disaster officials just reported Thursday afternoon that the Lacub river that flows downstream to the Abra River down to Ilocos Sur have began swelling, prompting pre-emptive evacuations in communities by the riverside.

A landslide also occured in Barlig and Besao towns in Mountain Province, but details have not be ascertained where exactly in that town and if the ground movement caused any injuries or fatalities and how many were affected.