Heavy rains trigger road closures, landslides, class suspension in Cordillera

BAGUIO CITY -- Landslides, closure of roads and suspension of classes were reported in Cordillera due to continuous rains since last week, although no casualty was reported. 

On Monday night, a landslide almost buried two houses in Guisad Surong barangay here and injured two of its tenants.

Five families near the landslide were evacuated here Monday around 7:30 p.m. at the height of heavy rains due to landslide.

Station 2 cops led by Insp. Andres Alcantara responded at Purok 3 Guisad Surong, where the residence of Vicente Labrador Baroma, 69, made of galvanized sheets was damaged due to mudslide coming from the house of his brother Emanuel Baroma.

Punong barangay Orlando Soriano reported no casualty. The families near the affected area were evacuated to the residence of Kagawad Mario Benalio while the others went to their immediate families in the same barangay. The five evacuated families were those of Vicente CaluzaBaroma, Emanuel Tomas Baroma, Ramona Baroma Golidan, Marypaz Baroma Asumio and RegieTandas.

Kennon Road was closed to traffic Tuesday morning after the monsoon rains loosened soil on the slopes along the road and sent rocks rolling down.

 Other major arterial roads in the provinces were closed to traffic like the Abra-Kalinga road, particularly the section in Baay-Licuan town;  the Mt. Province-Ilocos Sur via Tue, Tadian road particularly at the Aluling section;  the Kiangan-Tinoc-Buguias road at the Tinoc section; the Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya road particularly in Ambuklao in Bokod;  the Gurel-BOkod-Kabayan-Buguias road at the Toking, Buguias, Gusaran, Kabayan and Amlimay, Buguias sections;  the Acop-Kapanga-Kibungan road particularly at the sablang-Ipit and Ipit-Tigil sections; the Sinipsip-Ampusongan road; the Kalinga-Abra road particularly at the Pantikian section in Balbalan; and the Sagada-Besao provincial road in Mt. Province.

          Classes in the whole province of Abra and in Tublay, Benguet were suspended on all levels for the second day while pre-school to high school classes were suspended in La Trindad, Mankayan, Kapangan, Kibungan, Bokod, Sablan, Itogon, Buguias, Bakun, Tuba; all in Benguet and in Tadian town in Mt. Province.

Pre-school to elementary levels were declared suspended in Baguio causing an uproar on social media sites among parents of high-school and college students taunting Mayor Mauricio Domogan.

Classes from pre-school to elementary levels were also suspended in the capital towns of Bontoc in Mt. Province, Lagawe in Ifugao and Lamut also in Ifugao.

 Kalinga officials only suspended classes in the pre-school level.

         The Mines and Geosciences Bureau in the Cordillera also issued an advisory for small-scale mining operations in Benguet to suspend work amid the rains to avoid disasters inside mine tunnels.

 All local tourism offices in the different towns in the region were alerted to control tourist influx into caves and mountain ranges to avoid accidents.