Continuous downpour for several hours this week has led to the pre-emptive evacuation of a number of families living along the river banks and in Bayawan City.
The families were brought to pre-designated evacuation centers Wednesday afternoon by rescuers deployed by the Bayawan City government.
Heavy downpour started at past midnight Tuesday, and rains continued to inundate the southern city until Wednesday, triggering flooding of the Nangka River.
Provincial Disaster Risk-Reduction & Management Council executive officer Adrian Sedillo said Bayawan officials were keeping a close watch of the rising waters and were prepared to undertake a preventive evacuation if the water level breached the five meter mark.
The City was placed under a state of calamity in October 2013 after six people died and thousands displaced in an unprecedented flooding that submerged many parts of Bayawan due to the overflowing of the Banga River.
Meanwhile, the Dumaguete City Disaster Office/Rescue 348 placed all barangays vulnerable to flooding from the Banica and Ocoy Rivers and nearby areas on a 24-hour critical alert monitoring, due to intermittent light to heavy rains in the next three days.
The Rescue 348 Operations Center had been on alert from Monday through Friday for emergency calls and assistance, City Disaster Office head Jose Chu said.
