Northern Luzon braces for Gener

Local government units in northern Luzon are preparing for the landfall of Tropical Depression Gener expected on Monday evening or early Tuesday morning.

Signal No. 1 is hoisted over some areas, including Pangasinan, which is already on red alert.

“Heightened alert po ang ating monitoring. Massive information dissemination. Ready na ang water assets,” said Vincent Jun Chiu, Pangasinan Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO) operational chief, in Jasmin Gabriel Galban’s report on 24 Oras.

(Our monitoring is on heightened alert. Massive information dissemination. Our water assets are ready.)

The Pangasinan provincial government has prepared evacuation centers, while the PDRRMO is closely monitoring the river system, including the Bued River in San Fabian.

The PDRRMO has also prepared rescue equipment and emergency vehicles.

“Expect po natin na makararanas tayo ng moderate to heavy rains sa Pangasinan,” Chui said.

(We can expect that Pangasinan will experience moderate to heavy rains.)

Prior to the onslaught of the storm, some streets in Dagupan City were flooded due to high tide, including AB Fernandez Avenue and the downtown area.

Meanwhile, married couple Panny Garcia and Gilbert Garcia from Aguilar, Pangasinan said they did not expect the flood. They went to Dagupan City for an eye consultation.

“Kahapon hindi naman ganito ang tubig, ngayon malalim na,” Panny said

(Yesterday, the floodwater was not like this. Now, it is deep.)

“Hindi namin expected. Kala namin wala, kasing walang ulan,” Gilbert said.

(We did not expect this. We thought there was no flood since there was no rain.)

The flood also hampered the traffic.

The no fishing and no sailing policy is also strictly enforced in Pangasinan’s coastal area. 

In Casiguran, Aurora, meanwhile, students were sent home early since Gener is expected to make landfall in the vicinity of the province or Isabela tonight or tomorrow morning. — Mariel Celine Serquiña/BM, GMA Integrated News