Local killed, 180 houses buried as Rolly triggers Albay lahar flow

Some 180 houses in Guinobatan, Albay were buried under lahar on Sunday, with at least one reported fatality, amid the onslaught of  Typhoon Rolly.

The affected houses were mainly located in Barangay Travesia, which the local government said was not a usual path of lahar flows.

"Dati kasi, hindi naman ito dinadaanan ng lahar ang all of a sudden, 'yung direction, sabi nga, walang [pinipiling] direction 'yung lahar, kaya unexpected naman po 'yung flow dito," Mayor Gemma Ongjoco of Guinobatan, Albay said in a report on GMA's "24 Oras Weekend" on Sunday.

Vehicles in the area were damaged and livestock killed by the lahar flow brought about by Rolly.

Several locals also went missing, with search operations ongoing with the assistance of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

"We will help with the search doon, kasi sabi may mga missing bodies," Lt. Col. Benjamin Tapnio of the 49th Infantry Batallion said in the same report.

Despite Rolly being reclassified back into a typhoon before noon on Sunday, it still posed a threat as several areas remained under various tropical cyclone wind signals.

It made its third landfall over the vicinity of San Narciso in Quezon on Sunday noon.

Four fatalities have since been reported by Albay Governor Al Francis Bichara. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA News