Evacuees in Cagayan swell as Ofel makes landfall

The number of evacuees in Cagayan continues to balloon as Typhoon Ofel made landfall, the sixth storm to hit the province in just over a month.

According to the report of GMA Regional TV’s Jasmin Gabriel-Galban in 24 Oras on Thursday, there are almost 5,000 families who are now in evacuation centers as of 6 p.m.

Evacuees kept on arriving at a public school in Barangay San Vicente in Santa Ana, which included more than 30 indigenous families.

“Medyo natatakot lang kami sa pinanggalingan namin. Yung hangin ay malakas,” said Ricky Bacule, one of the evacuees.

(We are afraid of the situation from where we came from. The winds are so strong.)

But there are no more available classrooms that can accommodate the 200 families who evacuated as some of them still bore damage caused by Typhoon Marce.

“Nag-set kami ng 25 individuals sa mga rooms. Tapos sa malalaking rooms, nag-set kami ng 30 pero dahil nagkukulang, dahil maliliit naman yung iba, sige, siksik na lang kami,” said barangay kagawad Michael Raminajez.

(We only assigned 25 people per room. For the bigger rooms we have 30. But because some are of small stature, we just allowed them to fit themselves in every room.)

Ofel brought heavy downpour and strong winds in Cagayan. There was also almost zero visibility on the roads.

Despite the inclement weather, rescuers still proceeded with operations to evacuate affected residents.

Rescuers in the towns of Buguey and Aparri braved the storm to save at-risk families.

Since Thursday afternoon, eight towns in Cagayan have lost electricity. Residents are also experiencing problems with their communication lines.

As of 5 p.m., state weather bureau PAGASA said Ofel further weakened over Cagayan. But the eastern portion of the province is still under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 4.—Vince Angelo Ferreras/RF, GMA Integrated News