Tens of thousands of families were driven from their homes by floods and landslides in 322 barangays in the Eastern Visayas and Caraga regions as Tropical Storm “Urduja” (international name: Kai-tak) barreled westward across Samar Island on Saturday. Some 1,000 families from 15 coastal villages in Daanbantayan, Cebu, were asked to vacate their homes under threat from huge waves. The evacuees were part of the 158,166 people from 35,021 families displaced by floods in the Eastern Visayas and Caraga regions. A total of 11,101 passengers, as well as 1,322 rolling cargoes, 52 vessels and 33 motorized boats, were stranded in the seaports of Calabarzon, Mimaropa, the Bicol region, Western and Eastern Visayas, and Metro Manila, officials said. 2 were Sorsogon and Masbate, including Ticao Islands, and Romblon, northern Samar, the northern part of Eastern Samar, the northern part of Samar, Biliran, Antique, Aklan, Capiz and northern Iloilo.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer December 16, 2017 23:26 UTC