More than 74,000 persons affected in 16 Iloilo towns

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Around 74,707 people from 20,714 families in 16 towns were affected by Tropical Depression Agaton (International name: Megi) in Iloilo province as of 5 p.m. of April 12, 2022, according to data from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO).

The affected towns included Ajuy, Banate, Balasan, Carles, Dingle, Dueñas, Dumangas, Leganes, Lemery, New Lucena, Pototan, San Dionisio, San Enrique, San Rafael, and Sara.

Ajuy was severely affected with 15,863 persons from 6,889 families displaced by the typhoon.

Other towns with affected persons and families include:

–       Banate – 10,749 persons from 2,861 families;

–       Barotac Viejo – 8,139 persons from 2,090 families;

–       Dumangas – 7,965 persons from 1,593 families;

–       San Dionisio – 7,305 persons from 1,461 families;

–       San Rafael – 1,584 families;

–       Sara – 6,043 persons from 1,699 families;

–       Dingle – 5,444 persons from 1,089 families;

–       Pototan – 2,234 persons from 508 families;

–       Lemery – 1,304 persons from 388 families;

–       Balasan – 829 persons out of 248 families;

–       Dueñas – 500 persons from 100 families;

–       Carles – 388 persons from 135 families;

–       San Enrique – 218 persons from 47 families;

–       New Lucena – 105 persons from 21 families; and

–       Leganes – 7 persons from 1 family.

As of this writing, 9 houses were affected by “Agaton”—1 house destroyed in Pototan, and 8 partially damaged houses in Sara.

PDRRMO chief Jerry Bionat said that only 16 out of the 42 total municipalities and 1 component city of the province were able to submit data as of the time of their reporting.

Bionat said that while a family in Leganes was also displaced, the town should not be considered as heavily affected as there were not yet reports of additional evacuation or rescue efforts there.

Bionat said that “Agaton” reverted to its earlier position, which lessened the risk of the province falling under a storm signal and placing it outside the tropical depression’s “rain band”.

But “Agaton” is expected to land on Southern Leyte within late evening of Tuesday and early morning of Wednesday.

“In my 33 years [in disaster monitoring], this is the first time I’ve seen this. It did not move away, instead it went back to where it had been. On our part, that’s a good indication. I scale that in a matter of 8 to 12 hours, it may touch land in Southern Leyte,” said Bionat.

He noted that as of 3 p.m., majority of the rain and wind that hit the province a day before had subsided.

The remaining areas of concern by then were Banate, San Rafael, Lemery, Sara, San Dionisio, and Ajuy, with flooding also detected in areas of Barotac Nuevo, Concepcion and Passi City, pending official reports from their local government units.