Habagat, Kiyapo halt classes for 481,000 W. Visayas learners

By Mariela Angella Oladive, Jennifer P. Rendon, and Rjay Zuriaga Castor

More than 481,000 learners across Western Visayas missed face-to-face classes Friday, July 24, after heavy rain from the southwest monsoon, enhanced by Tropical Storm Kiyapo, prompted local governments to suspend in-person learning and disaster authorities to raise their alert level.

Data from the Department of Education Region 6 showed that 481,034 learners in 1,380 public schools were covered by suspensions declared by their respective local government units.

The suspensions took effect in 47 towns across three provinces and in the lone district of Iloilo City.

Affected schools shifted to alternative delivery modes of learning.

Iloilo province recorded the highest number of affected learners, with 258,117 students in 774 public schools across 28 of its 42 municipalities.

Antique followed with 108,730 learners in 425 public schools, covering 14 of the province’s 18 towns.

Guimaras reported 41,060 affected learners in 116 public schools, spanning all five of its municipalities.

In Iloilo City, the suspension covered 73,127 learners in 65 public schools, from preschool through senior high school.

No suspensions were declared in the DepEd divisions of Aklan, Capiz, Passi City, and Roxas City.

As of noon Friday, the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office recorded flooding in 31 barangays.

Six were in City Proper: Kahirupan, Ortiz, Tanza-Esperanza, Tanza Timawa, Inday, and Zamora-Melliza.

Six more were in La Paz: Divinagracia, Lopez Jaena Sur, Lopez Jaena Norte, Nabitasan, Bantud, and Baldoza.

Molo accounted for seven flooded barangays: Poblacion, San Juan, Cochero, East Baluarte, Calumpang, Taal, and Infante.

Mandurriao recorded five: Oñate de Leon, Calahunan, Navais, PHHC Block 17, and Tabucan.

Lapuz and Jaro each recorded three. The Lapuz barangays were Sinikway, Loboc, and Don Esteban, while the Jaro barangays were Calubihan, San Isidro, and Balabago.

One barangay in Arevalo, Sooc, was also flooded.

The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council 6 placed its regional operations center under Blue Alert status effective 8 a.m. Friday.

The council said it moved the activation up from a previously scheduled 5 p.m. start after updated forecasts indicated that moderate to heavy rainfall would reach parts of the region earlier than projected.

Under Blue Alert, response agencies and local disaster councils are directed to monitor weather developments closely and stay ready for flooding, rain-induced landslides, and other weather-related emergencies.

Raul E. Fernandez, chairperson of RDRRMC-6 and regional director of the Office of Civil Defense, ordered member agencies and local disaster risk reduction and management councils to intensify the dissemination of early warning advisories.

Fernandez also directed them to submit regular situational reports on any untoward incidents to the regional operations center for monitoring and response.

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has identified 264 barangays in Western Visayas as susceptible to flooding and rain-induced landslides.

The bureau counted 107 of those barangays in Antique, 98 in Iloilo, and 59 in Guimaras.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development, for its part, reported PHP 156 million worth of standby funds and prepositioned relief supplies as of July 23, the day before the suspensions took effect.

The inventory includes PHP 3 million in standby funds and 174,651 family food packs.

Of those packs, 33,210 are stored at the regional warehouse in Oton, Iloilo, and 142,441 are prepositioned across 71 local government units.

The department also listed 28,956 ready-to-eat food packs and 15,361 non-food items, including hygiene kits, kitchen kits, sleeping kits, tents, and laminated sacks.

Residents in flood-prone and landslide-prone communities were advised to remain vigilant and to follow official weather bulletins and disaster advisories.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration forecast moderate to heavy rain of 50 to 100 millimeters over Antique, Iloilo, Guimaras, and Negros Occidental through Saturday noon, July 25, driven by the enhanced monsoon.

Kiyapo, known internationally as Noul, intensified into a tropical storm early Friday while moving toward extreme Northern Luzon, and is forecast to leave the Philippine Area of Responsibility by Saturday.

The southwest monsoon is a seasonal system that brings prolonged moderate to heavy rain to the western side of the Philippines, frequently causing flooding and landslides, and it intensifies when a tropical cyclone draws the airflow toward it.

Friday marked the second major monsoon disruption in Western Visayas this month.

On July 13, DepEd-6 suspended classes in 256 public schools across 10 Iloilo towns, affecting 94,926 learners, as rains enhanced by Tropical Cyclone Inday flooded 35 barangays in Iloilo City and killed two farmers in Iloilo province.